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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/23833969">A Kind of Love</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/alliwantforchristmasisfanfictions/pseuds/alliwantforchristmasisfanfictions'>alliwantforchristmasisfanfictions</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>The Umbrella Academy (TV)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Adopted Children, Alternate Universe - Foster Family, Alternate Universe - No Powers, F/M, No Apocalypse</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>In-Progress</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-05-04</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-08-10</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-02 17:48:42</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>4</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>22,485</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/23833969</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/alliwantforchristmasisfanfictions/pseuds/alliwantforchristmasisfanfictions</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Through foster care and adoption agencies, Reginald and Ellie Hargreeves become parents of seven amazing kids: Luther, Five, Ben, Klaus, Vanya, Diego, and Allison (in that order). They love them more than anything else in life.</p><p>Or, a happier version of how the Hargreeves family came together through the years.</p><p>(The first chapters are a lot about the parents but it will be kids-centric as soon as they're old enough)</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>27</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>84</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. Luther and Five</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>- Reginald is completely out of character because he's happy with his kids :)<br/>-Ellie is based on the woman at the beginning of the episode 10</p>
    </blockquote><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>- Luther &amp; Fieve's adoption journey into the Hargreeves Family<br/>(don't worry, his name will be the iconic 'Five' soon)<br/>- The first chapters are a lot about the parents but it will be kids-centric as soon as they're old enough</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Since the kids are so young, Ellie and Reginald are the protagonists of the first few chapters but the rest will be mainly centered on the children. They're in their mid-thirties, and Reginald is VERY out of character.<br/>- AGAIN: The first chapters are a lot about the parents but it will be kids-centric as soon as they're old enough</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>June 4th, 1990</p><p> </p><p>Luther and Fieve Mitchell were born on January 5th, 1990, in California. The twins were unexpected to their mom, a young 16 years old girl with crushed dreams named Leah. </p><p>Leah cursed the day she got pregnant. </p><p>When her dad found out he kicked her out of the house with no money at all. The only support she got was from her best friend’s family who took pity on her and sheltered them in their basement. </p><p>Luther and Fieve were adorable children but Leah did not what to be a mother, she resented them. She blamed them for getting her expelled, for her boyfriend's departure, for her agonizing pregnancy, for her painful labor, for her newest drug addiction, and for her post-partum depression. </p><p>She would look at Fieve’s captivating green eyes and repeat “I hate you. I hate you. I hate you.”</p><p>She would glare at Luther’s shiny blond hair and murmur “I wish you were never born.” </p><p>During the first five months of being a mom, Leah would leave her sons on their tiny shared crib for entire afternoons, they cried in hunger and coldness in their dirty diapers. Leah would get high and forget about her problems, she didn’t have enough money for diapers, baby clothes, toys, or anything to shut them up. </p><p>All this chaos stopped the day Leah’s best friend found her on the floor with an overdose, Luther was screaming his lungs out and Fieve was on the verge of dying with pneumonia. The malnourished brown-haired baby had blue lips, a low heartbeat and an alarming difficulty to breathe. </p><p>As bad as it seemed, that day would forever change the twins’ lives for the better. That was the day they entered the foster system. </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>June 5th, 1990</p><p> </p><p>“I can’t believe this is happening”</p><p>Reginald Hargreeves and Ellie Brown had been married for years and they had been trying to conceive for months before discovering they could never have kids on their own. </p><p>Ellie never lost her hopes of becoming a mother, she and her husband desperately researched other ways to become parents to a beautiful big family. Until they had the opportunity to help as foster carers. </p><p>After months of training to become licensed foster parents, Ellie and Reginald received the call that they were impatiently waiting for. </p><p>Today they were meeting their first child. </p><p>“He’s here!” Ellie clapped her hands while running from the window to the front door.</p><p>A social worker parked her car in front of their garage and got out of the car. She opened the back door behind her, pulled out a baby seat and begun walking towards them with a big smile.</p><p>“Good morning!” She lowered the baby seat right in front of their feet “This is Luther. He’s exactly five months old and was taken away from his mother just yesterday. He doesn’t have any medical problems at all, he’s a healthy and happy baby” </p><p>Ellie and Reginald knelled down and finally got to see their beautiful baby boy. “He’s beautiful” Ellie admired her son with her hand on her heart.</p><p>The precious chubby baby smiled at them like a bright light in a dark sea. His small ocean blue eyes looked between the two adults as his hands played with his soft duvet.</p><p>“Nice to meet you Luther” Reginald picked him up and tickled his feet making the baby laugh loudly. The baby strongly wrapped his cute little hand around Ellie’s finger and didn’t let go, and Ellie felt like she could never let him go either. </p><p>“Here are his only belongings” she passed them a trash bag with a couple of baby clothes and some cheap toys “There’s only one more thing to discuss.”</p><p>The two suddenly looked worried, their smiles slightly faded “What is it?” </p><p>The woman sighed “Don’t worry, it’s not bad news but I need you to listen carefully: Luther is a two pieces’ package.”</p><p>Confusion filled the air “What does that mean?” </p><p>The woman signed and pulled a picture from her purse to pass it to them. The photo showed a pale baby with pink rosy cheeks, very dark hair, and the most beautiful eyes they had ever seen. Even though the oxygen mask he was wearing, they could sense his strong character from the sharp look in his green eyes.</p><p>“This is Luther’s fraternal twin, his name is Fieve. The two are very united, this is the first time they’re apart for so long. At this moment, Fieve is at the hospital because he almost died last night, we found him with untreated pneumonia. He requires a lot of medical attention right now but above all, he needs a home. Of course, we’re not forcing you to take two kids at once but it would be amazing if the two brothers could stay together, I really hope you consider it”</p><p>Ellie looked beside her at her husband's eyes with an empathetic expression “Reggie, love, what if we take him too?”</p><p>Reginald's eyes widen “Seriously? Twins?! Ellie-” He wanted to refuse but he felt like a monster. How could he say no to that adorable baby? How could he take only one of them? What would happen to the other baby?  </p><p>Ellie was certain about the right thing to do “I know it seems crazy and it’s going to be harder than we thought but what do we have to lose? We’ve been dreaming of this for ages, we can do this, we have everything it takes! Please Reggie” </p><p>Reginald glanced between the baby in the picture and the other baby in his arms, he could imagine himself playing football with his two boys, reading them a book before bed, playing with Legos every afternoon, and watching superhero movies on the weekends. He would have the family he dreamed of.</p><p>Reggie took his wife’s hand before proudly looking up at the social worker “We want to take them both” </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>July 4th, 1990</p><p> </p><p>Even after a month of being parents, every morning with the boys still felt unreal.</p><p>They had a specific routine: they woke up to the boys’ loud cries, changed their diapers, put them in comfortable clothes, and feed them breakfast. Then, once Reginald got ready and left for work, Ellie stayed with her boys and spent the day playing with them and enjoying their company. </p><p>Since Ellie worked in a school, she was completely free all summer and had long vacations for holidays. She had an important job as the vice-principal a very high rated private school, an extravagant and enormous establishment with classes from kindergarten to senior year named ‘The Umbrella Academy’.</p><p>Reginald, however, had a never-ending busy job as a surgeon. Today, however, he had taken a rare day off to not miss the boy’s first fourth of July. For the first time, he had the opportunity to be a suburban dad and host a BBQ in his childproof backyard to invite their neighbors. </p><p>“They smell so nice!” </p><p>“And their skin is so soft!” </p><p>“Look at their little feet!”</p><p>“He looks like a mini old man in this jumpsuit!” Ellie laughed at her son practically dressed in an American flag. </p><p>“Luther’s already done with his breakfast” Reginald proudly bragged to his wife while feeding him some fruits. </p><p>“Oh shut up!” she cleaned the food on Fieve’s checks “This one is a picky eater” </p><p>Fieve seemed to understand what she said because at that exact moment he threw a grip of berries at her face. She couldn’t help but laugh harder joined by her husband mocking her. </p><p>“We’ll work on that” he held his wife’s hand and kissed her while the boys giggled in the background. In only a few weeks, the two six months old babies had already filled their house with more happiness than they ever thought possible.</p><p>Ellie broke the kiss to get up and open a kitchen drawer “Hey look, I bought them these sound-canceling headphones for the kids to watch the fireworks tonight” she pulled out a green pair and a blue pair “I also got some matching hats for each of us”</p><p>“Perfect! I’ll start cooking then, our guest should be here in a couple of hours” Reginald was really hipped about this BBQ, it was an opportunity to show his family what an amazing dad he was. Tonight, both of their families were coming over to celebrate and meet their children for the first time, so the new parents wanted the night to go perfectly.</p><p>While he prepared the food, he often stopped to glance at his kids playing in the living room and easily noticed patterns in their behavior: Occasionally, Luther would stop in front of a toy and turn around to face him new parents with a weird expression, if he could talk he would probably be asking “Can I touch this?” and of course he would nod. Fieve was the total opposite; he was a curious and energetic boy, every time he would find something interesting he lifted it in the air and adorably hollered something that sounded close to “look!”</p><p>Somehow, Reginald noticed those patterns thought out the rest of the boys’ lives, some things never change.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>August 16th, 1990</p><p> </p><p>“I can’t believe summer is already over” Ellie whined in the passenger seat of their car on their way to drop the kids at daycare for the first time. “I’m going to miss the boys so much”</p><p>Today was the last day of summer and Ellie had to go back to work after spending two entire months with Fieve and Luther. She might not have given birth lately but she was still a new mom who needed her maternal break with her children. </p><p>From beside her, on the driver’s seat, her husband clicked his tongue “I know sweetie, but you’ll still see them every day and they’ll be close enough to the academy” </p><p>It took them two weeks to find the perfect place to leave their kids while they work. It was a big lovely house lead by a couple of elderly women with caring manners; it offered safety and great activities. A big plus was the fact that it was right down the block from the Academy, so Ellie felt less guilty about leaving them.</p><p>“I have a bad feeling about this” Ellie said looking out the car window on their way to daycare.</p><p>“Come on honey, what’s the worst that could happen?” Reginald was not taking her seriously at all. </p><p>She was frowning by now “What if they miss me too much? What if they get hurt and we’re not here to comfort them? What if Fieve doesn’t eat their food?”</p><p>“Jeez woman, calm down!” Reginald joked to calm her down “Don’t worry they’ll be alright. Most kids go to daycare at this age and end up just fine.”</p><p>“Yeah, you’re right” She looked back into the back seats to see Fieve hitting his robot toy against the left window and Luther drooling over his own robot in the opposite seat. </p><p>While parking the door in front of the daycare, Reginald tried to help one more time “Listen, the boys will still have each other no matter what, they’ll be safe and sound.” </p><p>“Alright, I hear you” Ellie took her seatbelt off and looked back again when she heard Luther screaming in agony from his baby seat. Fieve had successfully thrown his robot toy straight at Luther’s head. </p><p>“Fieve!” both parents yelled discouraged but the boy mischievously giggled, he definitely the troublemaker one. Since the blonde was a lot bigger and stronger than the black-haired one, most people never believed them when they explained that Fieve was the little psycho of the family. </p><p>Their dad brushed it off and got out of the car “I’ll get the boys. Can you carry their backpacks?” </p><p>Ellie nodded and went to the truck of the car to look for the two ‘Sesame Street’ bags she had gotten for her babies and filled. She had dressed them in their best summer outfits, with mini red covers and colorful cargo shorts. Reginald got the two boys from their baby seats and started heading for the door of the building. </p><p>Ellie followed him closely rambling non-stop “But- but what if they need us to sing them their lullaby? What if they put too many blueberries in their oatmeal? What if they’re scared of the other children?” </p><p>Reggie snorted “Are you serious? Luther is probably bigger than any of the other toddlers, and Fieve could intimidate anyone with a single look” he shook his head and got to the front door. </p><p>The door swung open in a heartbeat and one of the old women popped up “Good morning! How are you guys feeling today?” </p><p>Ellie greeted back “Hi! We’re good, just a little nervous.” </p><p>“First day, right? Nobody is ever ready to leave their kids but I can assure you they’ll be perfectly okay. You have nothing to worry about” and opened her arms to take away the kids from Reginald’s arms. </p><p>Before she could reach and take them, Ellie freaked out “Wait! I have some more questions” </p><p>The daycare lady patiently nodded “Yes?” </p><p>Ellie took of a perfectly written paper with an organized schedule, some disclaimers and a list of everything the boys need “First of all, is it possible to add some background sound to their naptime? Luther and Fieve hate silence.” </p><p>“Yes, the kids always sleep with lullabies in the background, it soothes them.” </p><p>“Okay, and can you make sure Luther has extra sunscreen if you take them outside? His skin is very delicate”</p><p>“Of course” </p><p>“And could you make sure Fieve doesn’t get too much sugar? He gets all hyped up and a little violent” she lied at the amplification of ‘little’. </p><p>“Okay” </p><p>“And could you not give them kiwi? They hate it”</p><p>“Sure” by now the old lady was visibly annoyed by Ellie’s unnecessary requests. </p><p>“And could you-”</p><p>Reginald cut his wife off “Alright honey, that’s enough. We’re running late for work” and he passed both boys to the old woman. </p><p>It only took half a second for Fieve to catch up on what was going on. As soon as he realized that his parents were leaving them with a stranger in an unknown place, his face turned red and he couldn’t help cry their names to stop hem from leaving “MAMA! DADA!” and naturally, as soon as the first stars crying the second follows. </p><p>Ellie’s heart broke in a million pieces; she jumped to take back her sons in distress. They looked afraid, almost as if they thought their parents were abandoning them “Come here baby” </p><p>The boys wrapped themselves around her neck and cried hysterically into her neck. Fieve was screaming in anguish by now, he was totally a momma's boy, Luther was sightly calmer as always. </p><p>“This stuff happens all the time, he’s just not used to being away from his parents yet. We can handle it.” The old lady waited for Ellie to give her the kids once again. </p><p>Ellie held the toddlers tighter “I can’t! They need me and I need them!” she cried in her son’s dark hair. </p><p>Reggie rubbed her back “Come on Ellie, you can do it and they can deal with it. You’ll have to do it someday anyway so please hang him over before we’re late for work. You’ll get to see them in a couple of hours” he seemed frustrated too by now. </p><p>“Okay, okay” she finally broke and let go after kissing  each of the boys’ heads and struggling to detach Fieve from her neck “Bye guys, I’ll be back soon okay?” </p><p>The old woman took the crying babies back and brusquely closed the door in their faces and left Ellie crying for hours. </p><p>The only thing that cheered her up was decorating her office with a giant new picture frame. It was a photo she took over the summer showing her two sons in her husband’s arms playing by some flowers in the park. That picture frame stayed there for years and it warmed her heart every time she looked at it.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>December 22nd, 1990</p><p> </p><p>Today, the couple were taking their little foster kids on a mission to the mall. The parents had a long list of presents to buy for their relatives, co-workers, friends, and most importantly for their two boys. It was the children’s first Christmas and it was important for it to be memorable. </p><p>“Dada!” Fieve cried after throwing his water bottle on the floor once again. </p><p>“If you don’t want more water you can just give it to me, no need to throw it, Fieve” Reggie rushed to pick it up the dirty floor and unethically gave it back to him. </p><p>They had been running in circles in the extremely crowded mall for an hour, pushing the two-seat trolley with exhaustion and sweat.</p><p>“We’re almost done, we just have a few more things to buy” Ellie encouraged them, she knew they all wanted to get out and go home to drink hot cocoa and sleep in front of the fireplace.</p><p>“Wait! What if we take the boys to see Santa?” her husband offered with a big grin on his face. </p><p>“Are you crazy? Have you seen the line?” Ellie pointed at the two hours line in front of Santa’s air-conditioned tent. </p><p>“Well I can wait in line with the boys and the bags while you look for the rest of the stuff, it’ll go way faster”</p><p>Ellie hesitated, deep down she suspected it was just a manipulative plan for him to get some rest but she was sick of carrying all the bags around so she still agreed “Deal, here you go. I’ll be back soon”</p><p>It wasn’t soon. It took almost two hours before she came back. While she was gone, Reginald watched his two eleven and a half months old communicated with groans and occasionally words, sometimes it seemed like they could talk to each other with only one look, kinda telepathic. </p><p>“Hey, I’m here” she showed up in front of Reginald and her sons with six full bags of unexpected stuff. </p><p>“Where were you? And what’s all that? I thought you only had a few more things to buy!” the dad hissed.</p><p>“Uh, yeah, I might have gone way over the budget. I bought some extra clothes for New Year’s Eve and a couple more toys for the boys’ presents. It was so adorable, I couldn't resist! Oh also-” she continued rambling while Reginald pretended to listen until they got to the end of the line.</p><p>“Honey look, we’re almost up to see Santa!” Reginald seemed way more excited than any of the kids in line, after all, he was internally a child </p><p>“NEXT!” The grumpy woman dressed in a green elf costume yelled expressible, classic holiday spirit and let them entered the little red cabin in the middle of the mall. Once in they got a clear look of the old fat man with a cheap white beard and a full Santa costume sitting on a decorated chair “HOHOHO!” he greeted.</p><p>“Look, boys! It’s Santa!” Ellie used her baby voice and hurried to detach the kids from their trolley.</p><p>“You want to sit on Santa’s lap?” Reginald said trying to ignore how weird that sounded.  </p><p>They placed Luther on Santa’s right and Fieve on the left but as soon as the parents took some steps back to take a picture with their camera they both broke in tears. </p><p>“Guys please don’t cry” Ellie begged </p><p>“Smile kids!” Reggie made faces and failed at his attempt to make them stop crying. </p><p>Of course, they didn’t smile. Instead, they screamed louder in harmony and kicked Santa. You can’t blame them for not enjoying sitting on an odd-looking stranger’s lap. </p><p>So, they took them back, went home and drank hot cocoa in front of the fireplace just like they wanted. </p><p>They still got a professional-looking family picture on Christmas morning. One with Luther holding the three-topper star in his hands while sitting on Reginald’s shoulder, Ellie and Fieve with matching elf hats and bright smiles, and the background were covered with their huge Christmas three overcrowded with ornaments. </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>June 21st, 1991</p><p> </p><p>“Oh my god, they’re getting so heavy” Ellie carried her two sons until she no longer could resist the wright and had to put them down. “and it’s so hot” she whined</p><p>Reginald excitingly took a football position in front of the kids “Ok Fieve, let’s try with you first” and he gently threw him a football at him. </p><p>The kid received it on the head and instead of crying like a normal one and a half years old boy, Fieve glared at his dad. He hurried to pick the ball up and angrily threw back with all the strength a toddler could have. </p><p>“Well, he can’t catch a ball but at least he can throw it” Ellie chuckled and covered her mouth when Reginald didn’t find it as funny.</p><p>Reggie picked the ball off the floor and aimed it at Luther “Alright champ, your turn now” and threw it at his other son. </p><p>Luther did, in fact, catch it, but then he clumsily fell on his butt. Fieve laughed hilariously at his brother and watched Ellie help him up “I don’t think they like the game” </p><p>Reggie shrugged looking a little disappointed “Then what do you guys want to do?”</p><p>“Sand Castles!” Fieve answered in his usual comical voice. His teacher had recently told them that Fieve had a vocabulary more advanced than the majority of kids his age, he was a little genius. </p><p>Luther gave a big goofball smile and agreed. He was a lot quieter, clumsier, and definitely easier going than his brother, he was their innocent angel. </p><p>“Alright, let’s go then” Reggie took both kids’ hands and lead them a sandbox to play with them.</p><p>Before Ellie could join them, her phone rang. She answered immediately “Hello?”</p><p>“Hello Mrs. Hargreeves, I’m Shannon, the foster care social worker, remember?” </p><p>“Of course, I remember, how can I help you?” </p><p>“Ellie, you might need to sit down. I have news.” Shannon let out a sigh that indicated bad news “The twin’s mom is ready to take the kids back.” </p><p>“…Oh” </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>June 23rd, 1991</p><p> </p><p>The Hargreeves knew what was probably coming.</p><p>In a few weeks, there would be a court meeting where their biological mother would list all the reasons why she wants the kids back, and they would almost certainly give them back to her.</p><p>They couldn’t let that happen. So, they invited the kids’ birth mom for a private meeting and came up with a plan. </p><p>Nervously, Ellie jumped from her couch when the doorbell rang. She opened the door and forced a welcoming smile on her face “Hi! You’re Leah, right?” </p><p>The eighteen years old girl shily nodded “Yes, and you’re Eleanor” </p><p>“You can call me Ellie, I’ve always hated that name” she chuckled and lead the teenager to their fancy living room where they sat down on opposite couches. </p><p>Soon enough they were joined by Reginald, who was recently putting the kids down for their nap. He came in holding three cups of hot coffee and a freshly baked apple pie.</p><p>“You want some apple pie?” Reginald asked and Leah nodded. He served a perfectly cut piece in their expensive porcelain plate and genuinely smiled “I did it myself, it’s mine and Luther’s favorite”  </p><p>Leah seemed uncomfortable at that statement, probably because she knew next to nothing about her own kids. She took another sip of her coffee before eating piece “It tastes great, thank you. I also wanted to thank you for everything you’ve done for my sons. Thank you.” </p><p>Ellie wanted to stay calm and just take the compliment, but deep down she was burning in rage. She couldn’t take it any longer “That’s it? Just a ‘thank you’?” </p><p>Leah seemed taken back, Reginald tried to calm her down “Sweetie-”</p><p>Smoke was coming out of Ellie’s ears “No, no, no, no. You neglected them for months, almost got Fieve killed, and abandoned them for drugs! We took them in with all our love and affection, we kept them happy and they always had everything they needed. You don’t get to just re-appear, take them back, say ‘thanks’ and leave.” </p><p>Leah was red, full of emotions “Listen lady, they’re my kids and I want them back. There’s nothing else to discuss.” </p><p>Ellie argued harder “You might be their birth mother but they’re we’re their parents. The day they came to our lives felt like a miracle. We were the ones who dealt with their pickiness, their nightmares, their tantrums, their messes, and everything else. We were there for their first words, their first steps, all their first holidays, and their first day at daycare, everything! … We love them so much and I don’t know what I would do without them…” her voice cracked and she had stopped talking to clean her tears.</p><p>Leah swallowed, feeling guilty but still constant “The foster care system is made to reunite families, your job was to take care for my kids until I was ready to take them back, and now I am”</p><p>“Are you?” Reggie seemed mad too now, but he stayed polite “It’s only been a year since they took them away, and you’re only 18 years old. Do you really think you can raise two toddlers on your own? Are you sure you have the financial and emotional stability to be responsible for two human beings as well as yourself?” </p><p>“Of course I do, I did everything the court asked me to do. I got through rehab, I just graduated, I found a good job and a fine place” she said on edge.</p><p>Reginald got to her level of bitterness and pushed his point “Right. So, does that mean that you’ll have enough time to spent with both of them? Or are they just going to grow up alone in an empty apartment? Who’s going to help you take care of them when you’re exhausted from working all day?-”</p><p>Before he could continue his quest to make her feel insecure, she exploded “You want me to be honest? No! You’re right, I’m not ready to be a single mom, but I miss my kids. I feel like a monster for leaving them, and I can’t stop thinking about them. I- I just don’t want to lose them again…” Leah broke in tears.</p><p>After a moment of silence, Reginald talked again with a softer voice “Listen, we didn’t expect the boys to stay for this long. We didn’t plan on getting so attached but just stole our hearts. You know, the day before you claimed them back we were filling the papers for their adoption…” </p><p>“Oh” Leah was lost in his thoughts. </p><p>Leah exanimated the living room, detailing the place where her sons were growing up. The place was completely filled with toys, exceptive artifacts and pictures of their family: a big one from the couple’s wedding, one showing both kids in their first Halloween costume, one of them messily eating their first birthday cake, another of Fieve in the middle of a bubble bath, one of Luther at the park, and so on. The Hargreeves really were a real family. </p><p>“What if we make a deal?” Ellie took Leah’s hands and used a softer voice “What if you let us proceed with the adoption and we’ll let you see them whenever you want?” </p><p>Ellie looked at her with an expression of too many emotions combined in her little blue eyes “What?”</p><p>Ellie continued “You’ll have to sign away your parental rights and that way we can adopt them. We will provide them with anything they need, raise them like our own for them to have the greatest life, and love them more than anything else in this world. On top of that, we’ll sign some papers too for you to have private visits with them as often as you wish. You can have playdates with them, you can join us for holidays or birthdays, you can take them out when they’re a little older and you’ll be part of their lives forever. You don’t have to be scared of losing them ever again, they’ll get to know and love their birth mother.”</p><p>Reggie added something hesitantly “You’ve seen the boys, they’re as happy as they could be. Here they’ll be safe, they’ll have a ton of opportunities, and you’ll be close enough to see them grow up without having to give up your own life at 18.” </p><p>Leah’s eyes involuntarily lighted up at that last sentence. She had just graduated from high school and she dreamed of becoming a doctor like her deceased mother, but she could never accomplish that with two kids under her care. She also wanted to travel the world, go to parties with her high school best friends, find the love of her life, and get married to start a fresh new life as most people did.  </p><p>Ellie bit her lip nervously “It’s a win-win situation for everyone. I don’t expect you to accept but I hope you think about it…”  </p><p>Before she could deny, Leah caught a glance of ‘Mr. Peekaboo’. It was a giant stuffed animal she had bought for the boys right before their birth, she named it, dressed him up, and used it as a puppet to calm them down whenever they started crying. The toy reminded her of a time when she was vulnerable, all the pressure made her feel pathetic, she didn’t even have the money to buy one for each. She couldn’t keep her eyes off it “You kept that thing?” </p><p>Ellie and Reginald looked at each other and chuckled. Reginald stood up and grabbed it “Of course we did, this meant a lot for Luther and Fieve. It was in the corner of Fieve’s hospital room when we picked him up for the first time, and for a few months, he couldn’t sleep without it. They loved it, it reminds them of their mom” he finished softly. </p><p>This was definitely a sign. At that moment, she knew the Hargreeves weren’t trying to take them away, they just deeply cared for Luther and Fieve. She made the decision that changed her life, her sons’ lives, and the couple’s lives forever “Okay, I’m in. You can adopt Fieve and Luther.” </p><p>And both fosters parents sighted in extreme relief, got up and hugged each other in happy tears. They were going to be adoptive parents of two adorable little angels.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>September 1st, 1991</p><p> </p><p>The courtroom was filled with police officers, their assigned social worker, family members from both parents, and even the boys birth mom. </p><p>The judge actually seemed happy to see them in front of him “by the authority vested in me by the state of California, I pronounce Luther and Fieve as a part of the Hargreeves family.” </p><p>The room resonated with applause and cheers, even the confused newly adopted twins clapped their hands with enthusiasm. The two kids didn’t really know what was happening but it seemed like good news. </p><p>Ellie kneeled in front of her sons and asked with a bright smile and tears ruining her mascara “You heard that babies? We’re officially a family!”</p><p>“I can’t believe this day is finally here” Reginald kissed both of the boys’ foreheads and then his wife “I love you guys so much” </p><p>“I love you too” Ellie kissed him back </p><p>That afternoon, Ellie and Reggie hosted a big party and invited their whole family over to celebrate the kids’ adoption. During the party, they could see how happy the kids look playing with their cousins, getting babied by their grandparents, and opening the gifts from their aunts and uncles. </p><p>When people started leaving, Reginald pulled his wife from the crowd and held her lovingly waist and pulled her closer “What’s on your mind, sweetheart? You seem distracted” </p><p>“I’ve been thinking” she embraced herself and breathed deeply “I want another baby, Reggie.”</p><p>“WHAT?” </p><p>“I do, I really do. I miss it when they were all small and cute, they’re so big now! Look at them running around and talking like little parrots. Why don’t we get another one?” </p><p>“…You can’t be serious” his eyes were wide open in shook “We literally just adopted two kids.”</p><p>She just made a puppy face and smiled wider “Please” </p><p>Reggie threw his head back, he couldn’t believe they were having this conversation “If I agree, we should go straight to an adoption agency as Leah said. I won’t risk getting him or her taken away, we have a deal?”</p><p>Ellie’s eyes lighted up “Can’t believe you said yes so fast! DEAL! THANK YOU!” and compulsively jumped to wrap her arms against his neck and her legs around his waist.</p><p>And a year later, the Hargreeves were a family of five.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Next chapter is about Ben's adoption :)</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. Ben</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Ben gets adopted.<br/>The Hargreeves family from 1993-1996.</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Baby Ben is the perfect angel, Luther is adorable, Fieve is a troublemaker.</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>October 26th, 1993</p><p> </p><p>Ben Min was born in perfect health on July 22nd, 1992, in Seoul, the capital of South Korea. His beautiful mother gave up the newborn baby in a box in front of an orphanage, like a typical movie act, and she ran away to concentrate on her career like she initially dreamed to. She was a newly graduated single woman with aspirations, she hid her pregnancy from her family and did not regret her decision to her son up. It hurt so much to let her child go but he deserved a family who truly wanted him.</p><p>The kid was transferred into a foster home under the care of a loving mid-aged couple. The two oldies showered the kid with love and affection like it was their own. Of course, they clearly knew they couldn’t keep him because Ben already had a designated family. </p><p>The Hargreves. </p><p>A Californian family doing everything they could to adopt him, impatiently waiting to officially get his custody. So, the old couple sent a picture of Ben to the Hargreeves every week and waited for the day he would go away to live with them. </p><p>That day came right after Ben’s first birthday when his adoptive parents knocked at their door and the old couple had to say goodbye to their foster kid “Ben, meet your mother and father. You’re going home now” </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>October 26th, 1993</p><p> </p><p>Getting paired with a child through an international adoption agency cost way more money and time than expected, but it was all worth it. </p><p>After months of filling papers, going to interviews, receiving pictures of Ben, and waiting for a court date to get custody, the Hargreeves got the green light to go look for their new baby. </p><p>“We’re here” Ellie shot a perky look outside the taxi window and stared at the apartment where Ben was currently being fostered. </p><p>Ellie and Reginald left the twins with their birth mother, Leah, and flew across the Pacific Ocean to South Korea where they would finally meet their new son. The plan was simple: as soon as they landed they would go look for the baby, and they would return home the next morning. </p><p>“You ready?” Reginald squeezed his wife’s hard anxiously hard, he had been shaking since he got out of the plane. He couldn’t believe he was meeting his new son today. </p><p>They stopped in front of the apartment door and knocked at the door together, it opened, and there he was. In the arms of his foster father, a small adorable boy looked up at his new parents “Ben, meet your mother and father. You’re going home now” the elder man said in Korean. </p><p>“Hi Ben” Ellie opened her arms and the toddler surprisingly hugged her back, he wasn’t used to strangers but something about the browned haired woman seemed trustworthy. </p><p>Ben -now- Hargreeves. The name resonated in Reginald’s mind, he was too overwhelmed to move at all, he just looked at his son’s captivating grin. </p><p>Even if Ben’s bags were already packed, and the Hargreeves had already prepared a baby carrier with anything he needed, the progress of taking him away from his first foster home was longer than expected. How do you take a kid away from the only people he knows, from the only place he has lived in, and start his life over? It’s hard. It’s not peaceful. </p><p>After taking Ben away from his foster home, it took three hours for Ben to stop crying and frowning at his adoptive parents. It was understandably hard for Ben to leave with two strangers, he acted like he was getting kidnapped. </p><p>He stopped crying late in the afternoon when they got to their hotel room after stopping in a restaurant where he refused to eat anything. </p><p>“Ben, don’t you want to eat sweetheart?” Ellie tried her best to make him feel better, babying him and trying to communicate, but she didn’t know anything about Ben’s preferences. </p><p>“He doesn’t understand babe” Reginald was at a low point too; the kid did not understand one word of English. He passed him another Oreo.</p><p>“But he didn’t eat anything at the restaurant, he must be hungry” Ellie glared at her husband “We can’t just feed. him cookies forever, Reggie.” He just chuckled in respond.</p><p>The couple sat on their hotel bed, with Ben between them, and turned the TV on to have some cartoon theme songs as background noise. For over an hour they tried to get him comfortable with them; they played peekaboo, talked to him, sang some songs, etc. The baby did calm down, he stopped glowering and even occasionally giggled whenever Reginald made funny faces or Ellie used whimsical voices.</p><p>“We should go to sleep; we have a flight to catch in a couple hours” </p><p>“Alright” the three of them slept together in the hotel bed, Ben surprisingly still between the two parents “Night, night Benny” </p><p>They couldn’t admit it out loud but it was definitely true, the twins’ arrival was much easier. The twins were never apart so they never felt scared, unlike Ben who felt hijacked by two strangers. The twins were only five months old and didn’t have anything to miss about their old life, unlike Ben who spent an entire year in a loving foster home. The twins had always been very expressive, unlike Ben who was super quiet and didn’t speak English. </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>October 27th, 1993</p><p> </p><p>On the morning after, the two parents and their youngest boy were going back home in a fourteen-hour flight. </p><p>“Wheeeeee!” Ben cheered and laughed while Reginald pushed him around on an airport cart, they were both having the time of their lives.</p><p>“At least he’s not crying anymore” Ellie felt overwhelmed by the sight of seeing her baby laughing for the first time. She was pretty stressed about trapping the newly adopted baby in a plane for so long, but at least he didn’t seem afraid of them anymore. </p><p>After checking in, boarding their luggage and getting into the plane the trio sat down the plain and embraced themselves. Everybody was eying Ben, nobody likes to fly with a baby on the plane. </p><p>With Ben on her lap, Ellie whispered warmly “Hey angel, I know you might be a little scared but I promise we’re here to take care of you” </p><p>Ben, of course, couldn’t understand what she was saying but he somehow understood it was a good thing, he looked up at her and smiled. </p><p>Ellie continued “We’re going home, Ben, and you’re going to meet your older brothers. One of them is named Luther, he’s very kind, sweet, and affectionate, I’m sure you two are going to get along.” She reached her wallet and showed Ben a picture of Luther, and then one of Fieve “And the little one is Fieve, he’s a little tornado, and he’s so smart and lively. They’re both very excited to meet you, angel” </p><p>By the time she finished talking she had scanty tears rolling down her cheeks, and then the most adorable thing happened. Ben raised his little hand and dried the tears of his new mother's face, the peaceful look in his face giving her comfort. </p><p>The rest of the flight, Ben didn't make a sound. He slept for most of it and while he was awake Reginald and Ellie kept him occupied with coloring books, stuffed animals, and soundless figurines. Ben was their little angel.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>October 31st, 1993</p><p> </p><p>The first holiday Ben spent with his family was Halloween, he had arrived exactly a week prior and was still getting used to his new life.</p><p>Normally, the little family would spend the day decorating their house, carving pumpkins, and at night they would dress the kids up and give candy until bedtime.</p><p>This year, however, the boys heard about trick-or-treating from their daycare friends and were now obsessed with the idea of trying it. </p><p>So, naturally Elle wrote the perfect plan. She first brought matching costumes for the three boys; each of them would be in animals one-pieces. She then prepared the path they would take (nothing too far from their house). </p><p>“Mom, this costume is itchy” Luther was dressed like a monkey; he was covered in brown hair, with some little ears and an adorable tail. </p><p>“Just be patient honey, it’ll stop itching.” she took a picture of him with a bright smile “We’ll be out in a sec so go put your boots. Fieve, hurry up!”</p><p>Fieve descended the stairs slowly, dressed in the cutest elephant costume with huge pink ears and the elephant’s trunk on his face. He stopped on the bottom of the stairs and blazed directly into his mother’s eyes “I don't like this costume”  </p><p>She took advantage of his steady posture and took a picture of him “Well I love it!” Ellie tried to hide her snicker.</p><p>“It looks ridiculous” Fieve had learned that word a couple of days earlier and instantly it became his favorite insult. He proudly used it at least twice an hour. </p><p>“I think you look like a million bucks, now go put your boots” </p><p>The last one downstairs was Reginald, holding the baby of the house in his arms. “Ellie these costumes are adorable” her showing off Ben’s costume. </p><p>Ben was covered in fur from head to toes, it was a fluffy Lion costume in which he looked like the cutest thing any of them had ever seen “Oh look at you!” </p><p>He actually seemed happy, he had spent the previous hour in front of the mirror staring at himself in the costume, he loved it. At least one of her sons appreciated Ellie’s costume choices. </p><p>“Ok let’s go. Everyone has their candy bags?” Luther and Fieve nodded, they were impatiently standing at the door with their boots “Alright you know the deal: you have to hold daddy’s hand at all times while I carry the trolley, you can’t talk to any stranger, and you can’t eat candy until we get home. Understood?” </p><p>To say Ellie’s paranoia wasn’t peaking would be a lie. On top of her head, she could name a dozen things that could go wrong while trick-or-treating with three toddlers, little did she know something was indeed going to go wrong. </p><p>The first few minutes were fine, Reginald held a twin in each hand and stopped house to house for them to get candy, their smiles went from ear to ear. Meanwhile, Elie followed close behind with Ben’s trolley, stopping for compliments from neighbors every few minutes. </p><p>“He’s adorable!” </p><p>“What a cute lion!” </p><p>“Look at his little nose” </p><p>“I didn’t know you had another baby, congratulations” </p><p>Everything was going fine for a while, forty-five minutes passed before all hell broke loose.

</p><p>Reginald approached Ellie and the trolley with a smile "Honey look! they have storm trouper costumes, that's amazing"  </p><p>“oh yeah, cool” Ellie wasn'T really paying attention to her husband, until she looked down to see only one of the twins “Where’s Luther?” </p><p>Reginald looked down and realized that he was holding Luther's candy bag and not his hand like he thought “What- He must have ran off" 

</p><p>“Did you just lose one of our kids?” Ellie asked praying for him to be joking. When she saw the fear in her husband's eyes, she understood the seriousness of the situation. </p><p>” he and then panic kicked in “LUTHER? LUTHER!” he yelled</p><p>“LUTHER! LUTHER!” Reginald screamed over and over again for what seemed like hours. He felt guilty, he felt like an idiot, he was supposed to look out for both twins but had just lost fifty percent of them, how could he be distracted enough to not see him? “LUTHER!” </p><p>“Oh my god…” Ellie’s difficulty to breathe left her speechless, she had never felt so scared. She analyzed her surroundings hoping to see her three years old son, but all she saw was a large sea of people from all ages running around in the middle of the night. The fear in her chest amounted every second and paralyzed her body. </p><p>“Daddy” Fieve pulled his dad’s arm and got ignored.</p><p>“LUTHER!” Reginald cried louder. </p><p>“Daddy” Fieve reapeated and still got ignored </p><p>“WHERE ARE YOU LUTHER?” Reginald seemed more desperate than ever. </p><p>“Daddy!” Fieve was now pulling his dad’s arm with all his strength </p><p>“WHAT FIEVE?” Reginald’s voice was still high, his heart going faster than ever. </p><p>Fieve seemed hurt, spooked by his father yell, he had never seen his father so on edge. The kid rapidly pointed his finger at a random location and simply said “He’s there” as if it were obvious. </p><p>Both parents automatically looked up, it took a second for Reginald spot the blond boy in the monkey costume sitting alone in the sidewalk far in the distance. </p><p>The dad didn’t lose a second to run over to his son “LUTHER!” he screamed once more with relief in his voice. The boy was bawling and shaking, but as soon as he heard his dad approach his eyes seemed to light up. </p><p>“Daddy” he ran to them and was welcomed by his dad hugging him in the air. </p><p>“Luther, do not disappear like that ever again. Do you hear me? Never again.” Reginald was holding the boy closely, making sure the kid was completely okay. </p><p>Ellie was still in shock, she kissed the blond boy’s head and the air seemed to become breathable again “Let’s go home baby” </p><p>And they did, this time Reginald was holding the boys in his arms to make sure they don’t run off again. He had never lost a child before and never wanted to experience anything like that ever again. Not knowing where Luther was for five minutes almost gave both parents a heart attack. </p><p>Once home, with the baby fast asleep in his crib, the parents help the older boys out of their costumes and softly tucked them in with kisses on their fronts. </p><p>“We should get leaches for them,” Reginald said as a clear joke, but Ellie took it to heart. The next day, she had purchased three adorable backpacks with leaches. </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>November 30th, 1993</p><p> </p><p>Ellie tiptoed down the stairs to join her husband and twins in the living room. She had just spent two hours locked in the nursery with the baby, feeding him and getting him in bed “Man that was hard, Ben might be quiet but he’s got a lot of energy. Like there’s a little monster living in him” she laughed. </p><p>“Let’s hope he stays this well behaved forever,” Reginald said from where he was sitting in his favorite armchair reading a book. The two older boys were too busy running around the living room. More specifically, Fieve ran after Luther “Mommy save me!”</p><p>“Fieve, leave your brother alone please!” She sighted, there really wasn’t any way to get peace in a house with three toddlers </p><p>“Luther, give me that!” She then took away the red baby sock that the blond boy was using was mittens. </p><p>“Mommy I’m hungry!” Luther whined after stopping the noise. </p><p>Ellie pouted, exhausted from handling the kids and cleaning the house all afternoon “Alright, I’ll go look for a snack.” </p><p>Immediately after she left the room, Reginald spotted his three years old son rocking himself in the baby’s bassinet “Fieve, get out of there!” </p><p>Now from the other side of the room he heard an irritable sound “Luther, stop making noise, you’ll wake the baby up” he hissed at the kid slamming his empty plastic cup against the coffee table. </p><p>“Fieve stop running” </p><p>“Luther stop jumping”</p><p>“Fieve turn the TV down” </p><p>“Luther put your pants back on”</p><p>It felt like an eternity before Ellie came back from the kitchen with a plate full of apple slices and peanuts “Here you go kids” </p><p>For a short time, the two ate in tranquility and gave their parents a minute to relax on the couch. That was until a rambunctious crash came from the dining room. They snapped out of their calm position and quickly realized that there was only Luther in the living room. “Where’s Fieve?” </p><p>They knew it was impossible to leave that one alone for a full minute without a catastrophe happening. Their worries were confirmed by a cry coming from where the crash came. If the first sound didn’t wake the baby up that horrendous yell did.</p><p>They quickly found Fieve standing on a pile of sharp glass with a petrified look on his face. He had somehow managed to break a very old sizable mirror formerly placed way out of his reach and was now covered in small cuts. </p><p>Reginald didn’t lose a second to rescue his son from distress, he carefully walked on a glassless spot and picked the kid up “Come here champ” </p><p>Five clenched his hands around his dad’s neck and sobbed hysterically into his dad’s shoulder. </p><p>It broke Ellie to see her strong boy cry, she didn’t have any time to be mad about her grandmother’s mirror because she went straight into panic mode “Baby are you hurt? Is he going to be okay?” </p><p>“Yeah he’s okay, he just got spooked” They suddenly remembered Ben was still crying upstairs, Reginald took charge of their older kid and signal his wife to take the baby “You can go, I’ll clean him up”</p><p>Ellie hesitantly took off to look for Ben to put him to sleep again, once he was fast asleep she rapidly cleaned the glass of the floor to make sure nobody else gets hurt. Meanwhile, Reginald took Fieve to the bathroom to clean the small injuries on his legs and arms. </p><p>It took half an hour for Reginald to clean the kid carefully, in times like this they were all grateful to have a doctor in the house. During the disinfecting, Fieve sobbed outrageously, he was normally prideful and never showed weakness which is why the whole scene was shocking to his dad.</p><p>“Ok champ, we’re done,” the father said after putting one last ‘Snoopy’ Band-Aid on his little knee. He stored everything back in his medicine bag and put the kid back on his feet “Fieve, why are you still crying? Does it still hurt?” </p><p>Five sniveled, taking deep breaths to stop crying “No” </p><p>“Then what’s wrong buddy?” his dad looked legitimately upset over his son crying, Fieve only cried when it was essentially needed, when he was truly deeply hurting, he was not like any normal kids. </p><p>The child stared at his feet, he cleaned his tears and answered in a very shaking voice “You and mommy love Ben more than me.”</p><p>Reginald’s heart sank, the thought of his older boys feeling abandoned by their parents made him want to cry too “Honey that’s not true at all. We’re just busier, babies just take a lot more attention-”</p><p>The kid cut him off with loud yowling, he seriously felt less important than the new child. </p><p>“Listen, mommy and I love you so much. We love all three of you just the same, we’re never going to stop loving any of you. Okay?” he put a huge emphasis each time he said the word ‘love’. </p><p>The black-haired one nodded firmly and waited to be crushed by his dad’s hug. </p><p>Man, managing three kids was hard.  </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>April 3rd, 1994</p><p> </p><p>The deal with the twins’ birth mom was simple: every month Leah got a full Saturday with them. She wasn’t allowed to take them out of the city, and she wasn’t allowed to do anything Ellie and Reginald didn’t approve. </p><p>Normally she would just take them for ice cream, or a movie, or maybe the zoo for a few hours, but that didn’t make Ellie any less nervous.</p><p>“Don’t worry honey, they’re just having a picnic” Reginald calmly stated from the couch, where he was watching ‘The Flintstones’ with Ben. </p><p>“I know but the wind is chilly, I don’t think the boys are properly dressed” </p><p>“Stop stressing out, Ellie, they’ll be fine” </p><p>Ellie sighed and sat with her husband and youngest son “Reggie… aren’t you scared that the boys will love her more?”</p><p>The worry was understandable, but Reginald was a positive person “Of course, not sweetie, we’re their parents and they love us. On the contrary, how many parents leave their adoptive kids hang out with their birth moms? We’re doing the right thing, they’ll be thankful in a couple of years.” </p><p>“Alright, good.” That seemed to calm Ellie down, she instantly smiled and took Ben in her arms “What about you? Don’t you miss your brothers?” she playfully asked. </p><p>She wasn’t waiting for a response from her baby because Ben didn’t talk, he had been living with them for six months and still had never articulated a real word. Part of it was because of the language barrier, but also because Ben’s personality was shaping to be the quiet, wise one who rarely cried. </p><p>Surpringcingly, Ben did answer this time “Fieve, Luther” he said as clear as day. </p><p>“What did you say?” Ellie asked in disbelief. </p><p>“Fieve and Luther,” he said his big brothers’ names confidently. </p><p>“Ben! You’re talking!” Reginald’s eyes were popping out of his head, hearing his son’s voice for the first time was exciting “Say it again! Wait, actually, Ben who am I?” </p><p>Ben didn’t lose a second to answer “Dada” </p><p>“YES!” Since they never saw Ben’s first step, this was the closest they had. </p><p>Ellie rushed in next “What about me? What’s my name, babe?” </p><p>“Mama,” Ben said now showing a smile. </p><p>“He’s on a roll!” Reginald got up and came back with a bowl of fruits “What’s this, Ben?” </p><p>“Banana” </p><p>Both parents were jumping to the roof “What about this?” </p><p>“Apple” </p><p>“And this?” </p><p>“Orange” </p><p>It was now Ellie getting up and looking for random stuff to show Ben “ Sweetie, what’s this?” </p><p>“Book” </p><p>“And this?” she pointed at her favorite orchid.</p><p>“Three” </p><p>“That’s close enough” Reginald laughed “What about the parts of the body, what’s this?” he pointed at the middle of his face. </p><p>“Nose!” by now Ben was grinning brightly, looking at his parents’ proud expressions.</p><p>“And this?” </p><p>“Ears” </p><p>“This?” </p><p>“Eye” </p><p>“And-” Reginald could do it all day, instead he got up and started pointing furniture “Ben, what’s that you’re sitting on” </p><p>“Couch” </p><p>“And what’s mommy sitting on?” </p><p>“Chair” </p><p>“Oh my god!” Ellie was clapping her hands and chuckled “Were you pretending to not speak?” </p><p>Reginald took the kid in his arms and spun him around the living room “My baby is a hidden genius!” he threwn him in the air a couple of times until-</p><p>BANG! Reginald threw the kid too high and banged the baby’s little head against the ceiling “Oh no”</p><p>-Ben had never screamed so loud, actually, they had never heard Ben scream at all. “AAAHH” it was the most irritating cry they had ever heard. </p><p>“I’m so sorry, honey, I’m sorry! Are you okay?” Reginald was trying his best to calm the baby down, feeling guilty. </p><p>Ellie shot him a mad look before taking the boy away from him “Come here sweetheart” she hugged him and soothe him. </p><p>They spent the next afternoon in the emergency room, making sure Ben’s head was okay. Turns out he was better than okay, he was a little genius. </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>June 11th , 1994</p><p> </p><p>Going to a farm with three little kids seemed like a good idea, until they got there. </p><p>After an hour, the Hargreeves got to their destination, Reginald’s childhood home: a smelly old farm in the middle of nowhere. </p><p>“How are my grandchildren doing?” Reginald’s dad, grandpa Sam, greeted them when they got out of their car.</p><p>“Hi dad” Reginald waved with a hand and with the other he held Ben, who was still half asleep and a little grumpy. “Kids, go say hi to grandpa Sam” </p><p>“HI GRANDPA!” Fieve and Luther said in perfect synch and ran to hug the old man, they loved coming to the farm. Luther was an animal person, he would spend hours looking at them and petting them with no fear at all. Fieve was an adventurous boy and the farm was a place for him to explore freely, he loved to run around, pull stunts, make forts of dirt, and climb on anything.</p><p>“Oh my big grandsons! How are you?” their grandfather picked them up with all his strength and made the four years old boys giggle. </p><p>“Good! Where’s grandma?” they were still talking in perfect harmony. It was a little creepy, the twins were obviously fraternal but sometimes it seemed like they were one person cut in half. </p><p>Grandpa Sam laughed “She’s in the kitchen making a pie” </p><p>Luther’s eyes widen “My favorite!” he had a sweet tooth, actually, Luther could spend the day eating. Their grandpa put them back down and they both rushed inside to look for their grandma. </p><p>Reginald and Ellie got to the door next, they had a couple of bags full of clothes change because they knew how filthy the farm was. “Hi Sam” Ellie greeted his father in law and rapidly walked herself into the house to follow the twins and make sure they weren’t already getting in trouble.<br/>
As soon as Reginald was close enough to his dad, the older man precipitated to take the baby from his arms. “And how’s my newest grandson doing?” </p><p>Ben didn’t react much, he was too busy looking around at the farm, it was his first time outside of the city. </p><p>For the rest of the morning, Reginald and Ellie sat with his parents and talked for hours while the kids played in the porch with old wooden toys. </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>Later, after lunch, the three generations of boys took a walk further around the farm. Grandpa Sam had built a wagon to carry the three kids around as a tour, but as it turns out Five ended up taking control of it and dragging Ben around while Luther walked himself slowly, stopping to admire every plant and insect. </p><p>“Luther, walk faster!” his dad was getting impatient “Fieve, go slower or you’ll pull a muscle”</p><p>“Never thought you would be such an uptight father” Reginald’s dad laughed </p><p>“I’m not uptight!” Reginald took the comment personality “But anytime I’m alone with them I’m scared to lose them, or what if they get hurt? It’s my responsibility”</p><p>“Reginald, kids are stupid but they’re not snowflakes, Luther’s not going to hurt himself from picking up ladybugs, and Fieve isn’t going to pull a muscle from carrying a toddler in a wagon. So, what are you worried about? You need to let them live.”</p><p>“Dad, when I was their age you would leave me to play at my will and I would get hurt in different ways every single day. It wasn’t fun, that's why I became a doctor” </p><p>“But you had fun! You loved to explore, just like those kids of yours” </p><p>“Dad, I’m scared” they stopped walking for a second, giving Luther time to catch up, a moment of silence passed before Reginald took the courage to continue “I’m scared by kids won’t love me” </p><p>“What?” </p><p>“I’ve never talked about this because I don’t want to worry Ellie, but the truth is I’m terrified. I’m scared because if they get hurt, or if I teach them something wrong, they’re going to resent me. What if they want their real dads? What if I can’t spend enough time with them? Damn, what if I end up traumatizing them somehow-”</p><p>“Reginald” The older dad cut his son off by putting his hands in his shoulders strongly “Look at that kid, does he look unhappy?” his eyes laned on Ben who was clapping his hand in the little red wagon. “ </p><p>Reginald shook his head, actually, Ben was laughing and smiling, he was enjoying his ride and trying to reach a flower. </p><p>“And what about that little boy?” he pointed at Luther behind them, who was running after a cricket with determination. "Or that one" lastly, his dad pointed at Fieve who was drawing a map of the corn maze with freighting precision. </p><p>Reginald shot him a weird look “Where did he find crayons?” </p><p>His father rolled his eyes and ignored the question “My point is that these kids are happy. They’re going to grow up in a healthy home, with two parents who love them, that’s all they’ll care about. You’re not doing anything wrong son, you’re trying your best and they’ll be okay with that” </p><p>Reginald was trying his best to not let his tears show “Thanks dad” and he hugged him, but the son &amp; dad moment was broken by a loud cry. </p><p>“Dad! HELP!” Reginald looked back to see Luther stuck on a three </p><p>“Oh lord- How did you even get there?” the young dad didn’t lose much time to try to get his kid down.  </p><p>Luther was hugging the three in fear, he screamed “Fieve dared me too!” and of course Fieve was now sitting with Ben in the wagon laughing his ass off. </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>December 6th, 1994</p><p> </p><p>Luther slept soundly on the bottom of his bunk bed in the middle of the night when someone shook him awake. “Luther! Wake up” he heard hisses. </p><p>His eyes shot open and he caught a glance of his twin brother right on top of him “What is it Five?” </p><p>“There’s someone at the door, look!” Five-pointed to the doorknob loudly shaking. “I’m gonna open it, watch my back”</p><p>Luther was still half asleep with only one opened eye; he still shook his head and got off his bed to follow Fieve closely. Fieve finally got to the door and opened it with all the courage a-five-years old could have. </p><p>They were both in defense position with their heart racing “Who’s there?” Luther asked snakingly. </p><p>What stood there was actually an adorable little boy in a soft blue one-piece with a pacifier in his mouth and a short blanket in his hands. Their little two years old brother Ben looked at them with wide eyes. </p><p>Fieve and Luther did an internal ‘awn’ and saluted him “Hey Ben” </p><p>They didn’t expect Ben to start quietly crying, instead of greeting back he just looked down to his feet and let tears fall down his face.</p><p>“I think he had a bad dream” Fieve seemed sure about his hypothesis </p><p>Luther was uneased “Should we tell Mom and Dad?” </p><p>Fieve shook his head “What if he sleeps here?” he was on full big brother mode, he didn’t wait for Luther’s answer to reach Ben’s hand and walk him towards their bunk beds. </p><p>Luther pointed at his bed on the lower half, knowing the two years old couldn't climb to the top bed “He can sleep here”</p><p>The three of them got comfortable on the bed with Ben in the middle, it wouldn’t be the first time that Ben got out of his little bed and walked himself into his brother's bedroom, and the twins would always come to the rescue.</p><p>Once the baby was sleping sounding soundly, Luther asked "Five, would you like another brother?"</p><p>"Nope" he answered simply before falling sleep too.</p><p>A few months later, they met Klaus.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Guess who's next?</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0003"><h2>3. Klaus</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>The kids are still little babies, but as the chapters advance they'll grow into the characters we know and love.</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Longer, but more interesting.</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <strong>April 21st, 1996</strong>
</p><p> </p><p>Klaus Scholz was born in the United States of America but he didn’t know where exactly considering his irresponsible mother gave birth in the back of an old van on the side of a highway. He only got his birth certificate a few days later, on April 4th, 1989.</p><p>His mom was a junkie, she didn’t hesitate when getting high while she was pregnant which might have been the cause of some of Klaus’ issues. His dad was a harsh and heartless man from Germany who treated him and his mom like shit, occasionally even relaying on physical abuse he was drunk.</p><p>“We were better off without you” "I wish you were never born." "You're a useless little shit" were some of their favorite lullabies. Their definition of a good life was shooting their arms with heroin and sleeping naked in the par, but they couldn’t do that with a child. They blamed all of their problems on Klaus, while the little one wondered <em>"why didn't they just give me up for adoption?"</em></p><p>Every day was the same sad routine, the family would wake up early to drop their kid at a cheap daycare in a garage and they would go work in a grocery store, they picked him up at night and finish their days eating junk food before heading home and locking Klaus in his closet-size bedroom to go do god knows what. On the weekends, they would let him play in the parking of their building while they smoked pot or shot themselves with heroin with some of their best clients.</p><p>Klaus didn’t particularly hate his life; he was too young to understand how wrong it all was, but he did catch on how his parents never smiled, how little they ate and how poor their was hygiene. He was too young to understand that his parents were selling illegal stuff, too young to understand why there was no food in their own kitchen, too young to understand the things his mom did when she brought strangers in the house while his dad left for days, too young to understand that they shouldn’t have a child.</p><p> All that changed a couple of days after his seventh birthday, the day his parents abandoned him. He woke up from his mattress on the floor and ran to the door, and almost days it was locked from the outside. Usually, he would just have to wait a couple of minutes until one of his parents opened it for him to use the restroom.</p><p>This time, after an entire hour, nobody opened the door. In fact, nobody opened the door in two entire days. Klaus didn’t start screaming until the second day when his stomach hurt from hunger, his lips were dry from thirst, and the pajamas he was wearing were wet and dirty. “Mom! Dad! Mom!”</p><p>Nothing.</p><p>He had passed out by the time someone did open the door, he woke up hours later in a hospital bed surrendered by strangers, that’s when Klaus really panicked.</p><p>He actually had no reason to be afraid, because his life was about to take a great turn.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>
  <strong>April 22th, 1996</strong>
</p><p> </p><p>Reginald and Ellie were sitting together on their favorite armchair, looking at their beautiful sons playing together in the living room. “It’s almost bedtime guys, you should start putting your toys away”</p><p>It was pretty late, and it was raining outside, which is why they weren’t expecting to hear the doorbell</p><p>“I’ll get it” Reginald got up and asked, “Who’s there?”</p><p>“It’s Shannon, the social worker!” Shanon was the one hosting the class where they got their fostering license, she was the one who brought them Luther and Fieve six years ago, she checked up to them constantly throughout the first year but they hadn't seen her since the twin's adoption.</p><p>Reginald opened the door and smiled warmly "Hello Shannon!"</p><p>"Good afternoon," The woman smiled back “I’m happy to see you remember me”</p><p>“Of course we do!” Ellie arrived in front of the door and greeted Shannon “Can we help you with something? Do you want to come in?”</p><p>“I do need your help, I have a huge favor to ask." She looked on edge, tired and stressed.</p><p>Reginald and Ellie shared a worried look “What’s going on? Is something wrong?”</p><p>"Actually, yes" She took a deep breath before telling them more details  "Yesterday, the police found a child in an empty apartment a couple of minutes from here. The neighbors had heard the boy cry and scream all night long and suspected the parents weren't home. They found the boy locked in an empty bedroom, he was passed out from dehydration, laying in urine, starving and terrified. I can't tell you much right now but I have a feeling it's a case of abandonment considering their drawers were all empty, and since the apartment was full of all types of illegal drugs the parents will be going straight to prison when they find them." </p><p>Reginald knew pretty well what was happening, but he still felt the need to ask "Shannon, where is this going?”</p><p>Shannon simply turned around and pointed the back of her car, the two other adults quickly noticed the little boy sitting there crying softly “The kid is over there, his name is Klaus and he just turned seven. I've been looking for someone to take him while we try to locate his biological family. I know you two weren't looking for a foster child but I'm desperate, you two are amazing parents and you have two boys around his age, which is why I'm here to ask: would you foster Klaus for a couple of weeks?”</p><p>Ellie didn’t have the heart to say no but she waited patiently for Reginald to say his opinion. Her husband was normally the rational one who would freak out about having four little boys in the house.</p><p>However, Reginald surprised her. Without words, he walked rapidly towards the car in his driveway and looked straight into the backdoor window. Right away, the pair of hurt green eyes looked up at him, and right at that moment, Reginald's heart grew ten times bigger. He felt the need to pick up the kid shaking and sobbing, needing a loving and safe place to recover, there was nothing more to think about “We would be happy to foster him”</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>
  <strong>April 23rd, 1996</strong>
</p><p> </p><p>Little Klaus woke up in an unfamiliar place, he knew he should be worried but the fluffy pillows and the comfortable blanket were keeping him too cozy to complain. The sweet smell of fresh muffins forced him to sit up and look around the beautifully decorated guest room.</p><p>“Good morning champ” Reginald greeted from when he was sitting on the edge of the large bed, keeping a distance to not disturb the child.</p><p>Klaus jumped at the sudden sound of an unknown voice, he was sadly used to strangers invading his privacy but this man had a different vibe, something about him made Klaus feel safe like he was never going to lay a hand on him, unlike the others. “Hi”</p><p>“Did you sleep well?” Reginald felt silly for trying to make conversation with a six years old boy, but he would do anything for the kid to not be scared of him.</p><p>“Yeah” Klaus nodded and rubbed his sleepy eyes. His hair was a curly mess and the pajamas he had on, borrowed from Luther’s drawer, were way too big on for his skinny form. “Where am I?”</p><p>Reginald smiled “You’re in my house kiddo, and this is temporarily your new room. You probably don’t remember last night but that’s okay, you were tired. My name is Reginald, you’re going to be staying with me and my family for some time.” He talked slowly, assuming that the boy must be confused and scared.</p><p>In reality, Klaus was incredibly calm and very much awake by now “Where are my parents?”</p><p>“I don’t know buddy, but a friend of mine is looking for them.” The man said with sympathy “Don’t worry, we’ll take good care of you until they come back.”</p><p>Soon after the end of that sentence, there was a delicate knock on the half-opened door and Ellie walked in, she had a big smile on her face and was holding a small pile of clothes. “Hi love”</p><p>Klaus waved at the second stranger, he had never seen an adult look so happy.</p><p>Reginald watched her sit right beside him and put his arm around her “This is my wife, Ellie”</p><p>“Nice to meet you Klaus” Klaus held his hand up to shake hers and then kissed the back of her hand, she laughed cheerfully "Such a gentleman"</p><p>Klaus gave them a cocky smile "You’re very pretty”</p><p>“Thank you, love, you’re very handsome yourself,” both her and Reginald were chuckling, she had never met such an outgoing little kid. "Hey look, I brought you some clothes for the day, we'll go shopping later alright?"</p><p>Klaus’ eyes lighted up at the verb ‘shopping’, he loved malls. He was serene while Ellie helped him put on some clothing (She had borrowed Fieve’s longest t-shirt and shorts, considering Klaus was very thin but also very tall for his age).</p><p>Once he was dressed, the two adults lead him out of the guest room,  Ellie was holding his little hand “Now, we’ll like you to meet some people.”</p><p>Reginald walked behind them holding his cup of coffee "I hope you're hungry Klaus, Ellie makes the best breakfast.</p><p>The kid looked around the house and admired the toys and childlike drawings laying around, something about his place made him feel safe even if he had never seen it before. The trio stopped in front of the kitchen where three other kids sat still on the counter, all four looked at each other awkwardly until Reginald cleared his throat.</p><p>“Boys, this is Klaus” Reginald put his hand on the kid's shoulder welcoming, he had already talked with the boys and explained the entire situation so he was expecting his kids to behave and treat Klaus with kindness. “Klaus, meet Luther, Ben and Fieve”</p><p>Klaus waved charmingly “Hello there,” he said with a surprising simplicity before climbing an empty chair and serving himself some fruit salad and a chocolate muffin.</p><p>Ellie was quietly giggling, happy to know Klaus wasn’t the shy type. Reginald was still impressed, he wasn’t used to seeing outgoing six years old. This was going to be a ride.</p><p>“So, who’s your favorite Power Ranger? Have you watched Transformers? I like your shirt. Oh and-” Klaus kept rambling on and on while the three others ate, half ignoring him.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>
  <strong>May 7th, 1996</strong>
</p><p> </p><p>“Kids, get down and walk, you’re getting heavy” Reginald stopped the shopping cart in the middle of the aisle and waited for the four boys to get out.</p><p>“Urgh! But my legs are tired!” Fieve whined</p><p>“When are we going home?” Luther looked like he could sleep with his eyes open.</p><p>They had been out shopping for the entire day, but it was all necessary, they were buying supplies to turn their guest room into a more suitable bedroom for little boys. Reginald sighed “Hopefully soon”</p><p>When they had first moved into the house about nine years prior, the big room at the end of the sketchy hall had stayed empty because of how unsafe it was for children. They lock it and forgot about it, until six years later when Ellie decided to make some changes by fixing the walls, the balcony, the window, and changing every single decoration to turn it into a guest room. Until Klaus came.</p><p>Considering the twins already shared a room, and Ben was sleeping in a miniature bedroom, the only room left for Klaus was the guest room. Since it looked like a grandmother’s place, they were completely changing the decorations, painting the walls a forest green, adding some toys, buying smaller beds, and adding anything to make Klaus feel welcome. On top of that, Ben was moving in that room with Klaus, and he couldn’t be happier to finally have a roommate.</p><p>"I have a big room, I have a big room, I have a big room" Ben chanted although the day with a permanent grin.</p><p>Klaus was incredibly excited about the whole situation, anxious to finally have the bedroom of his dreams, he pointed at anything he liked and his foster parents just nodded along. “Ellie, could we get some of these too?”</p><p>“Of course sweetheart” Ellie answered with a grin, clearly spoiling him by letting him add whatever he wished.</p><p>Klaus had only been with them for two weeks and they already felt like they had known him his entire life. The kid overshared any thought he had, making his foster parents laugh daily, he had a special extroverted and energetic personality that the other boys seemed to find entertaining. In other words, they were getting along perfectly, so the least they could do was to make him feel welcome and beloved.</p><p>“Mommy, I’m hungry” Ben was the only one still sitting in the shopping cart, very aware of his privileges as the youngest.</p><p>“Ouh can we go to McDonald's?” Luther seemed suddenly more awake at the mention of food.</p><p>“Sure munchkin, let’s go”</p><p>And they finished their shopping day in Walmart’s McDonalds, eating burgers and nuggets, except for little picky Fieve who only ate fries with salt.</p><p>The next day was entirely spent painting and filling the room, the two boys loved every single thing in the room, treating it as if it were a palace. In fact, it became their favorite place, a place where they spent entire afternoons laughing together, where they sat together and shared every detail of their day, where they locked themselves when the others were being too irritable. Even if the age gap was pretty big but Ben was very mature for a four-year-old and Klaus was full of innocence his entire life. They shared that room for the next decade, it was their safe place, a place where they could be themselves.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>
  <strong>June 18th, 1996</strong>
</p><p> </p><p>Ellie knocked on the door of Klaus’ new room and playfully made a sound before stepping in “Knock Knock!”</p><p>Klaus looked up at her from where he sitting on the floor drawing “greetings!”</p><p>“Hi love, I need to talk to you, it’s about school.” She said before sitting down beside him. Ellie was the vice-principal of the Umbrella Academy, where she got free spots for her four kids, and it helped her be more present in their scholar life and help them have a good academic path.</p><p>“How may I help you?” Klaus gave her his whole attention, smiling up at her.</p><p>Ellie tried to keep an empathetic smile “I took a long look at your final grades and talk with your teacher, and I have some bad news. Klaus, love, I'm sorry but you're not ready for third grade." 

</p><p>Klaus dropped his crayon and frowned. He knew he had a reputation of being the stupid one in the classroom but he didn't think it was bad enough to fail a school year. "Oh..." </p><p>"I'm sorry Klaus. We know you worked hard, you did your best, it's not your fault." Ellie rubbed his back to assure he wouldn't feel too bad about it. In reality, she wasn't blaming it on Klaus, nor did she ever doubt that he was amazingly smart. Both foster parents knew that his grades were a consequence of the circumstances of Klaus' horrible home environment, his irresponsible parents, the trauma, the lack of support, and the anxiety. Klaus needed their help.

</p><p>Klaus looked more down than Ellie had ever seen, he was completely silent for the first in three months “Are you mad at me?”</p><p>"Of course not love!" She hugged her and he rested his head on her neck "This isn't a bad thing Klaus, this can be a nice opportunity for you to use all your potential, it's a fresh start. Plus, this time we'll be here to help you from the first day till the last, it's going to be okay." I

</p><p>He pulled away and showed her a small smile "So will I be with Luther and Fieve next year?" </p><p> "Yes! Isn't that going to be fun?" She smiled back and watched as he ran to the other side of the hall to tell Fieve and Luther. The twins acted a little annoy but deep down they were almost as excited.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>
  <strong>July 30th, 1996</strong>
</p><p> </p><p>The kids were driving Reginald and Eleanor nuts.</p><p>Throwing, screaming, pulling hair, hitting- it was a nightmare. The boys would fight day and night about anything, one second they loved each other and the next they couldn’t stand the sight of one another.</p><p>They finally snapped their father's last nerve on one sunny afternoon. Reginald entered the living room after he heard a very loud crash, the TV was on the ground; the screen was shattered all around the fireplace and the kids couldn’t care less.</p><p>Ben was hitting Luther with a dollar store pirate sword as revenge for stepping on his lego house. Fieve was smashing his fingers against a mini colorful piano and Klaus was jumping on the sofa with a red superhero cape on. They all stopped when their dad screamed “WHO DID THIS?”</p><p>None of them seemed to have noticed the man standing there, they stood still and looked at where the destroyed TV on the floor. They each looked guilty and yet they all answered simultaneity “It wasn’t me,”</p><p>“THEN WHO WAS IT?” Reginald was red, screaming in rage. He rarely showed anger at the kids, the boys had never heard him so mad before. Reginald would never even think about putting a finger on them, yet the kids seemed scared right now.</p><p>Before Reginald could scream louder, Ellie rushed in and calmed him down. With her arms delicately placed on her husband’s shoulders, she helped her children “Boys, what happened?”</p><p>“Calm down honey, it was an old TV anyways,” Ellie said before leaving to look for a broom in the kitchen.</p><p>“Well, you know what? No more TV. We're not buying another until you learn to behave and appreciate the value of everything you have!.” </p><p>Before he could keep yelling, he heard the quiet sob. He looked around and noticed Klaus hiding his face, standing farther from him than he was seconds ago, he looked almost broken. When the kid briefly looked up at the man, he seemed frightened, like he was waiting for punishment... the unacceptable kind of punishment. Nobody spoke for a moment until Reginald approached the kid with a softer expression and his arms held up in a peace sign. It was sad to say the last, the man felt like a monster "Hey buddy, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to scare you."</p><p>Klaus didn't reply, he just looked down and let his tears roll down. He looked somewhat calmer and the parents were relieved to see that the reaction didnù,t turn into a panic attack or something like that. 

Hearing the man scream looking so mad brought back some of Klaus' worst memories, he remembered the day when his dad snapped at him and threw him a glass bottle, or the day he banged Klaus's head against the wall and let him cry for an hour. Reginald felt awful for it, he took the kid by his shoulders and tried his best to reassure him. "I'm really sorry, you know I would never hurt you, right?" </p><p>Again, no reply. The rest of the afternoon was strangely quiet, after a long reflection Reginald came to a conclusion, he found the perfect way to teach them a lesson and still put a smile on their cute faces. </p><p>Reginald woke up early the next day and came back with a truck full of wood. He took all his tools out of the garage and carefully measured the largest three on their property."Boys! Put on some working clothes, today we're building the best treehouse you've ever seen."

</p><p>Four gasps came from different directions, they did as they were told and showed excitement, </p><p>“We won't rest until it's done, you'll have t work hard and earn it." 

</p><p>"How do we start?" Klaus was already wearing a helmet, safety glasses, and gloves, he looked ridiculous but he was already making his foster dad proud, he wanted this treehouse more than anyone.</p><p>“I need all of you to do exactly as I say and be careful, I don’t want anyone to get hurt. First, we need to cut the wood and I need your help, but don’t do anything stupid. Did I make myself clear?” Reginald finished and got four firm nods.</p><p>“Yes sir!” Fieve answered with a military salute to make fun of his dad's sudden serious tone, he made Klaus and Ben laugh but earned a dramatic eye roll from Luther and a glare from his father.</p><p>By nightfall, after an entire day of working, they finished their mission without anyone getting hurt. They had a charming mini treehouse in the back corner of their backyard with old Christmas lights surrounding it, a telescope leaning from the only window, a solid wood ladder clued on the three, a metallic slide for them to come down and a tire swing attached to the strongest branch.</p><p>“It looks straight out of a fairytale” Ellie whispered in her husband’s ear from where they were supervising the boys playing in the house “They love it”</p><p>“We finally got them out of the house” he laughed and kissed her.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>
  <strong>September 30th, 1996</strong>
</p><p>As vice-principal, Ellie had to deal with a very big decision, fix an incredible amount of problems and keep everyone in line. After seven years of the same job, nothing could surprise her anymore, and she already had done everything in her hands to make The Umbrella Academy a safe place with a healthy learning environment for all her kids' ages five to eighteen.</p><p>However, she did displease from a surprise when she opened her superior’s office to see her three sons and two other second graders sitting in front of the desk, looking tired and kind of scared. Luther had plastered on his arms, Fieve was covering his eye with ice, and Klaus was crying and looking at the dry blood on knees.</p><p>“Oh my god, my babies-” Ellie rushed to their sides to check on their injuries and hug her crying foster son “Kids- what happened?”</p><p>“Ellie, we need to talk.” The principal had a forced disappointed look on his face like he didn’t actually care “Your kids got into a fight with these two during last recess.”</p><p>“What? Why” She wanted to be angry but something about the mood of her sons made the situation weird.</p><p>“Unfortunately no adult saw it happen but the other kids say Klaus started it and your two sons finished it.” He said confidently, almost trying to hold a smile.</p><p>“That’s not true!” Klaus had the instinct to defend himself and his family “I didn’t start it, they were bothering me again and Leo pushed me!” he finished pointing at his bleeding knee.</p><p>“Wait, ‘again’? Have they bothered you before?”</p><p>Klaus went silent for a second, he hadn’t told them what was going on before because he didn’t want to bother them with something so silly. His real parents called him a siss for complaining before, and his teachers had never done anything to help him. He was getting used to kids picking at him “Yeah, they do it every day”</p><p>“Klaus, what exactly is it that they do? What do they say to you?”</p><p>Klaus looked down at his glittery nails, Ellie and him had so much fun doing manicure the day prior, and he loved the way they looked… but his classmates didn’t like it as much. “They laugh at me a lot, they say I act like a girl, they call me names like fag and queer, sometimes they steal my stuff or push me in the halls, and they always exclude me from games at recess or PE… ”</p><p>When Ellie saw the tears repapering in Klaus ‘eyes, she hugged him tighter and kissed his head “Oh love…I’m so sorry”</p><p>The principal didn’t seem empathetic, he ignored the boy's sadness and continued “Klaus does have a tendency to get in trouble. There are some unapproachable things he does, for instants I don’t think the clothing he’s wearing is appropriate, or the nail polish or the makeup for that matter.”</p><p>“He’s wearing the uniform, Bob, we don’t unauthorized accessories do we? I thought we changed that rule a decade ago to allow students to express themselves”</p><p>“You’re right, Ellie, but Klaus is a young man. He shouldn’t be wearing a pink bracelet if you know what I mean.” He said the last sentence with an awkward smile on his old face.</p><p>That bracelet was a gift to Klaus from Reginald, it was a family heirloom that nobody liked, the bracelet was too small for a grown woman and it was way too shiny and glittery for anyone to wear. Klaus being the unique kid he was, ran towards after the first glance, and from then on he wore the hideous everywhere.</p><p>“No Bob, I don’t know what you mean” By now, Ellie was red. She looked furious, like a dragon protecting her eggs. “Klaus should be allowed to wear whatever he pleases if it makes him happy and doesn’t go against any written rules.”</p><p>“Ellie, calm down, all I'm saying is that maybe there is a reason he’s getting picked on.” The principal calmly crossed his legs, confident in what he was saying without noticing how much it hurt the little seven years old kid sitting right in front of him. “He’s different, a little strange, I'm just trying to help.”</p><p>Ellie finally lost it, before storming off she put her foot down and spoke with pride “You are not in a position to call any student ‘strange’ or anything similar. It is an insult and quite hateful, so I won’t move until you take it back.”</p><p>There was a long stare between the two while the twins looked between each other and their mom, and Klaus just kept looking down and reflecting. When had anybody made such a big deal about him? When had anyone out their job at risk for him? Wow.</p><p>“Alright, you win.” The smile on the old man’s face had disappeared, replaced by his usual frown.</p><p>“I’m taking the afternoon off, let’s go, boys,” Ellie said with all seriousness knowing the man was not going to fire her any time soon because this school was more in her hands than in his lazy ass ones.  "Good day sir”</p><p>The ride back home was quiet, Celine Dion played in the background as the boys awkwardly looked at each other until Luther spoke “Mom, are you mad at us?”</p><p>Ellie was so lost in her thoughts that she almost didn’t hear him “For what love?”</p><p>Luther frowned, surprised by his other’s confusion “For getting into a fight.”</p><p>In all honestly, Ellie had completely forgotten about that “Well, you never told me how you two ended up in that fiasco too?”</p><p>This time, Fieve took over “We saw them pinning Klaus down and we did the same to them. We look bad but you should have seen the other guys” he finished with a proud smile pointing at his black eye.</p><p>“Alright, I’ll think about it.” No, she wouldn't, there was nothing to think about. Someone hurt their brother, so they offered payback .</p><p>Luther, Klaus, and Fieve had been sharing a classroom for a month now, the situation resulted in constant fighting. Spending 24/7 together did not help them as much as she thought it would, they seemed to be even more annoyed with each other, or that’s what Ellie thought until today. The way the twins stood up for Klaus when he needed them, the way they always include him in their group project when nobody picks Klaus (even if it ends in fighting), the fact that they always sat together at lunch when the other kids avoided Klaus (even if it always ended in bickering), … it did work.</p><p>So no, this was a celebration moment. "Just remember, violence isn't the solution to anything" that was a lie, those kids deserved it.</p><p>The following weeks consisted of a big change in the school. They started putting up posters about the LGBTQ+ community, speaking about it in class, and including it as much as they could. She was devoted to making it a better place for every student, to shape good human beings who would be mind open to anyone. The story even got to the news, 'Californian school teaches kids about homosexuality' and soon enough other schools copied them and went even further, it was very progressive.</p><p>Of course, some ignorant and conservative parents complained but Ellie wasn’t going to step back. “I don’t want anyone to feel like they can’t be themselves in their own school, so if a close-minded adult wants to pull their kid out of our school for teaching them about the real world, they’re welcome to do so.” She would repeat to the press, in parents meetings, and more..</p><p>And it was all thanks to little Klaus, she owned it to him. Ellie, publicly thanked him a couple of times and the kid felt proud, he felt part of something big and important.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>
  <strong>January 1st, 1997</strong>
</p><p> </p><p>New Year day had been very relaxed </p><p>After celebrating Hanukah with Reginald’s family, then Christmas with Ellie’, and finally New Year’s Eve with these college friends, they needed a day to calm down. </p><p>The thing is, dealing with four little boys and their pickiness, tantrums, and all their shenanigans in crowded places were pretty hard. </p><p>The family woke up pretty late, and after a big breakfast Reginald forced them all to get dressed and follow him to the driveway “Alright boys, let’s begin” </p><p>“Begin what?” All four kids asked in harmony, as strange as it seemed it was pretty cute. </p><p>Ellie clapped her hands “We have a gift for you, a late Christmas gift to congratulate all your achievements of the year.” </p><p>“It’s so hot!” Klaus was wearing a tank top and little shorts. </p><p>“Mommy the mosquitos are biting me!” Ben wined from beside the taller one, he hated all insects and was terrified to go outside for a very long time.  </p><p>Luther’s skin was glowing with the sun, he tried to hide his face with his hand to not get yet another sunburn. “Why are we even outside?”</p><p>“Alright people, let’s hurry up!” Fieve’s bitterness started early this morning, he had his arm crossed and already looked irritated.</p><p>“Jeez, boys” Reginald tried to brush it off, not exactly enjoying his son’s attitude “Patience you must have, my young padawans,” he said with his best Yoda voice hoping to make them laugh and failing horrendously. He hid his embarrassment and just pushed the garage button. “Alright, here we go” </p><p>The garage door slowly opened to reveal four new bikes parked vertically in a perfect line. The four kids gasped and their eyes widen, Ellie was happy to see their bewilderment “TA-DA! You guys like them?” </p><p>Little four years old Ben didn’t say a single word before running directly at the smallest bike, the only one with training wheels. Ben wasn’t actually interested in riding it but he was amazed by the dinosaur drawings all over the bike "Wow!" </p><p>“This one is awesome” obviously Luther chose the biggest one because he was significantly taller than the others. It was a pretty bike in a matte grey color, overflowing with sparkling blue stars. </p><p>“Is that for me?” Klaus pointed at the lime-colored one because green was his ultimate favorite color, it was peaceful yet full of energy. It was flamboyant and would probably catch anyone's eye, it even shined in the dark.  </p><p>Both parents nodded enthusiastically nodded to answer Klaus’ question and the kid finally pulled away from Reginald to look at his bike “I’ve never had a bike before! Thank you!” </p><p>Klaus' moment was cut off by Fieve’s loud crash “OWW!” he screamed from the floor of the driveway after failing to take his bike our of the garage. His was an intense cherry red color and filled with orange fire motives. </p><p>“I’m coming baby!” Ellie ran to Fieve and helped him get up. </p><p>“This is why we also bought you matching helmets!” Reginald said full of jolly, feeling positive about teaching the kids how to ride a bike. </p><p>It went horribly. </p><p>Klaus screamed their ears off anytime they tried to let him go. </p><p>Luther fell only once, on the grass, and proceed to cry for an entire hour.</p><p>Fieve was doing perfectly fine until his confidence got too big and he ended up crashing into a garbage can. </p><p>Ben was the only one who did a decent job. He rode around with his training wheels with a popsicle on one hand while he laughed at the disaster unfolding. </p><p>At the end of the day, Reginald turned on their fire pit in the backyard and the family made hot dogs for dinner and marshmallows for dessert, Fieve’s favorite. As soon as dinner was over, Ben ran back inside avoiding his phobia of mosquitos and his two big brothers followed him right away. </p><p>The three-remaining people talked for a while until Klaus started yawning between each of his words. After a couple of minutes, he couldn’t keep his eyes open anymore, Klaus gave up and decided to go to bed “Alright, I think I’m going to sleep now” </p><p>“Good night love!” Ellie hugged him</p><p>“Good night kiddo” Reginald brushed his hair. </p><p>“Good night mom, good night dad”</p><p>As the kid walked away, the two parents looked at each other with their jaws dropping “Did he- did he call us-?”</p><p>“Oh my god” Ellie wanted to cry. She had been raising her three adoptive sons since before they could talk, so it was normal for them to call her mom, but not for Klaus. Klaus already had a mom and a dad, hearing him refer to them like that meant the world to them. It meant that Klaus trusted them, it meant that the kid was comfortable enough to think of them as parents. “This is amazing” </p><p>Reginald had the biggest smile on his face ‘We did it” </p><p>“We did it”</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>
  <strong>April 4th, 1997</strong>
</p><p> </p><p>“HAPPY BIRTHDAY DEAR KLAUS, HAPPY BIRTHDAY, HAPPY BIRTHDAY, HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU” applauses and cameras flashed all over the living room after Little height years old Klaus blew his candles.</p><p>After Klaus his foster family that he had never had a birthday party, they went all out in making this day special for him. They had booked the largest party room of the most diverse indoor amusement center in the city and invited a bunch of kids he got along with. The place had karting, zip-lines, giant slides, bowling, and an arcade to keep the children busy for an entire afternoon. The parents had also planned some traditional birthday games and brought all sorts of junk food for the kids, it was the birthday any second-grader will dream of.</p><p>After hours of running around the amusement center and eating like pigs, Klaus opened the gifts from his friends and finished the day with the beautiful confetti cake that Ellie had made for him. “Thank you, mom, it’s delicious”</p><p>“My pleasure love, I hope you liked it.” She tightly hugged the little kid in flash clothes, thinking about how far they were from the skinny, traumatized, scared little child they met about ten months prior.</p><p>“Don’t move, picture time!!” Reginald had been dragging his new camera all day, taking pictures of the birthday boy every ten minutes. Ten photos weren’t incredibly good considering Klaus’ messy hair, weird clothes, and his missing teeth, but they were still going to develop them to hang them around the house and add them in their albums.</p><p>“Stop! You already took like a thousand pictures!” Klaus giggled, the kid’s laughter was way too contagious.</p><p>“You’re exaggerating, this camera isn’t strong enough for so many pictures of such a handsome young man” The man playfully answered knowing how much Klaus benefited from other’s compliment on his appearance “Hey champ, by the way, we have one more gift for you”</p><p>“Another?” Klaus had already got a big party, breakfast in bed, some new clothes and awesome toys were chosen by his foster brothers, what else could they give him? This was already the best birthday.</p><p>Both adults took one of Klaus’s hands and lead him to a quiet space in the place “Sit down”</p><p>“What’s the gift?” Klaus had a big smile on his face, his heart was accelerating a little.</p><p>Rginald was the one to begin “Klaus, you’ve been with us for almost a year now and you already know how much we love having you around.”</p><p>Ellie continued “It’s no secret that your stay was supposed to be temporary, but we're so happy that you could stay for longer. We love you unconditionally, Klaus." </p><p>Klaused smiled up "I love you guys too"</p><p>"Following up, there's something we need to talk about." there was an uncomfortable silence where Reginald prepared himself. “The police found your parents last weekend, champ.”</p><p>“Okay, and?” maybe it was the excessive sugar in his body or the excitement from the day, but Klaus was still not understanding where the conversation was going.</p><p>“They’re not coming back, love.” Ellie was almost in tears when she said it out loud, heartbrokenly waiting for the child’s reaction. "We're really sorry"</p><p>The two adults had obviously decided to keep the full story hidden from Klaus until he was old enough to understand it well. His parents had too much dept, they were in many people’s death notes, which is why they had decided to run away from the country and hide in Europe. They had a plan to enjoy their last years drinking, getting high, and selling their bodies for money to eat. Of course, they couldn’t do it with a child, so they abandoned their only son and disappeared to throw their lives away.</p><p>“Oh” Klaus simply said. His foster parents might be thinking he was internally crying, but in all honestly, he couldn’t bring himself to feel bad. He hadn’t seen his parents in a year, he couldn’t remember the last time he hugged them, the only memories he had of his early childhood were not lovely, so even if it sounded harsh… he wasn’t exactly nostalgic for his parents “Okay”</p><p>“We know it’s not the perfect time to tell you this but… we wanted to gift it as a birthday gift. We hope it makes you feel better.” Ellie passed the gift wrapped in the newspaper to Klaus.</p><p>The kid opened it slowly and uncovered a picture frame. When he turned it around and got to see the photo, he teared up. It was the first family picture of six of them had taken together, the two parents and their four boys were all smiling at the camera and dressed in matching blue shirts. On the bottom corner of the picture, there was a note: would you like to be adopted?”</p><p>See, after the biological parents got arrested, the judge finally took all their parentals rights away for good because of their abandonment stunt, their horrible influence and mainly because of their undirect attempt to murder a six-years-old,</p><p>Now, the Hargreeves were free to adopt Klaus.</p><p>"Really?" Thankfully, Klaus didn’t even give it some time to think, what was there to think? He had finally met people who loved him and kept him safe and happy, he felt wanted and accepted, he never wanted o say goodbye to them and now he never had to "Yes..."</p><p>He wanted to say more but the overwhelming happiness didn't let him, he just nodded and embraced the warm hugs by his soon to be new legal parents, he now knew what 'family' truly meant.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Next one is sweet baby Vanya ;)</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0004"><h2>4. Vanya</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>I have so little inspiration, please help. If you want me to continue, please express it. Thank you! :)</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <strong>April 8th, 1996</strong>
</p><p>Vanya Danek was born on March 21st, 1993, in Sumy, a city on the east of Ukraine, close to Russia. Vanya didn’t have the wealthiest life, after the dissolution of the Soviet Union only a year prior to her birth, her humble parents had fallen even deeper into poverty. Because of economic issues such as inflation, the couple barely had enough to put a roof over their five children’s heads. This is why her parents made the most difficult choice of their lives and gave the three years old toddler up to adoption, keeping only the bright oldest teenager and their three boys to help them work at their farm.</p><p>So, with their hearts broken, the Ukrainian family left the cute brunette with large brown eyes in an orphanage or girls. Vanya’s oldest memory is hearing her mother’s sobs while looking at her for older siblings waving goodbye at her, the memory ends with her father’s last kiss on the forehead. “I love you, Vanya”</p><p>“I love you, daddy”</p><p>“Goodbye, Vanya,”</p><p>Her only belongings were kept in a little pink bag, she had oversized hand me down clothes, a pair of boots, and some underwear, and the only thing she had to remind her of her biological family was the doll she carried, a red-haired doll made by her mother.</p><p>“What’s her name?” The elder caretaker who received her in the orphanage asked.</p><p>“Sofia, like my big sister,” Vanya answered, always sweet and polite.</p><p>Her time in that horrible place was hell on earth, the women who ran it were rough and only seemed to care about rules and discipline. Vanya cried a lot in her time there, she was often sick because of how little she ate and slept, every day she stared at the window waiting for her family to come back.</p><p>Her family never showed up, but on a rainy day in March, a car parked outside, and the lady inside was looking for Vanya. A couple of hours later, Vanya was on a plane on her way to California, United State, to meet her new family, the Hargreeves.</p><p>
  <strong>April 28th, 1997 </strong>
</p><p>Ellie and Reginald Hargreeves had exciting news.</p><p>The couple had applied to adopt a kid from Ukraine a year prior, right before meeting Klaus. They had chosen to adopt from Ukraine because that’s where Reginald’s mother was from, it was kind of an homage to her, and they dreamed about having a little girl to cherish like a princess.</p><p>However, as they previously learned, adopting a kid from another country was very long, this time the progress was twelve months long. During those months, as the process of applying for adoption again, all the meetings with the agency and the court, and finally getting paired with a child, they fostered and adopted Klaus. With that, the last week of April 1997 was one of the happiest and most memorable weeks for the Hargreeves.</p><p>“Boys!” Reginald yelled from the kitchen after helping his wife with dinner. “Food’s ready”</p><p>The four children ran towards the dinner table in their self-assigned places. Ellie served the food, and before letting them eat she clapped her hands to get their attention “So, your dad and I want to speak to you”</p><p>Klaus cut his adoptive mother off and rapidly said "If this is about the missing vase from the living room: it wasn't me or Ben" 

</p><p>Ben nodded in agreement with Klaus' statement, making them look like two halves of the same idiot. Luther chuckled, their parents shot them both irritated looks, and Five just rolled his and mocked "Try again Klaus, with more credibility this time.</p><p>Ellie stopped him with a shush “Five, be more respectful to your brothers.”</p><p>Five cuffed, with angry eyes. In reality, he was never intentionally mean to his brothers but lately, he was losing his temper quickly and lashing out way too loudly. He purposely left messes everything and responded rudely to anything they said.</p><p>“So what is this about?” Klaus asked with his utensils still resting in his hands.</p><p>Ellie proceed “As you guys know, your dad and I have been talking a lot about adopting another kid for a year now”</p><p>“Yeah, isn’t that why we got Klaus?” Luther asked with his mouth already full of meatloaf.</p><p>Now it was Reginald rolling his eyes, clearly showing where Fieve got it from. “No guys, before fostering Klaus we already had papers to adopt a little girl from eastern Europe. We talked about this, remember, how it takes a long time and all?”</p><p>The boys nodded, pretending to know what she was talking about when actually they ignored most talks about the topic. Through the last year, Ellie and Reginald both tried to prepare the boys for a new little sister, but they didn’t seem to mind all that much.</p><p>Ellie took her husband’s hand in hers and prepared herself for the foreshowed news “Well, after twelve months of paperwork and interviews, we're leaving next weekend to go look for your new little sister.”</p><p>Four boys, four reactions, one second:</p><p>Luther momentarily shocked on his food “WHAT?”<br/>
Klaus’ jaw dropped after he gasped “WHAT?”<br/>
Fieve’s face turned red as he whispered “what?”<br/>
Ben’s five years old brain was just deeply confused “what?”</p><p>The two parents laughed and explained ith more detail. Ten days later, the couple brought home a beautiful four years old girl who would quietly tun their world upside down, for good.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p>
  <strong>May 8th, 1997</strong>
</p><p>Ellie and Reginald arrived in Ukraine on the sixth of May, it took them a couple of hours to get to the orphanage where they would meet their daughter. They showed up to the door with their biggest smile and a purple gift bag.</p><p>The elderly woman didn’t welcome them with all the kindness in the world but they couldn’t care less. She called the little girl and she went running to the door with her backpack on her, a cute green dressed and a red-haired old doll “This is Vanya”</p><p>The girl waved shyly at Ellie who had happy tears in her eyes “Hi cutie, I’m Ellie and this is Reginald.”</p><p>The girl didn’t answer but her eyes moved between the two adults, she didn’t speak or understand English but that didn’t stop her new parents from loving her at first sight.</p><p>“You must be the beautiful miss Vanya” Reginald kneeled to her height and shook her hand politely to start gaining her trust.</p><p>The trio took some time and tried their best to connect with Vanya, it was easier than expected because the girl was an absolute sweetheart, they didn’t need words to see how kind-hearted and calm she was. A couple of days back, they were back in California after a couple of short days, the parents were excited about introducing Vanya to her new home and most importantly to her new brothers.</p><p>“Boys!” Reginald opened the front door of his house and waited for his kids to come. They had stayed under the care of their grandparents for four days, anxiously waiting to meet their youngest sister “We’re home!”</p><p>The first kid to get to the door was Luther who greeted his parents with a big smile hugely showing his missing front teeth “Dad! Mom!”</p><p>“Hi sweetie” after a quick hug to each of his parents, Ellie kneeled beside her daughter and smiled “Vanya, this is Luther”</p><p>Luther approached his new little sister with some hesitance and waved weekly “Hi!”</p><p>“Oh my god! You’re finally here!” The next one to loudly run to the door to introduce himself was height years old Klaus. He stopped right in front of the girl and shook her little hand “My name is Klaus”</p><p>The boy's excitement and good vibes made Vanya giggle quietly, slowly feeling a little more comfortable and waved.</p><p>“And I’m Ben” the four years old boy copied Klaus to get the new kid’s attention. He was normally very shy but this time he completely put that aside, he was too happy about finally meet a child his age in the house.</p><p>Vanya didn’t answer, she looked confused but thankfully not even a bit scare, she was one the brave girl.</p><p>The last one was Fieve, this whole time he had been standing on the top of the stairs watching them. Fieve was a stranger to stress, but right now he felt completely out of his comfort zone, he was so worried about making a good first impression. He approached them quietly and stopped in front of his new sister “Nice to meet you Vanya”</p><p>After the amazing dinner they cooked to welcome, the grandparents presented themselves to their new grandchild, they left for the family to have some alone time together. The rest of the day was all about Vanya and making her feel like home, starting with showing her the room they had prepared for her.</p><p>“Wow” she breathed out after only a quick look at her ‘palace’, her eyes shined with bewilderment.</p><p>She had gotten the smallest room, Ben’s old nursery, but her parents still try their best to make it look like a little princess’s dream bedroom, the room now looked like a page from a fairy-tale. Every single thing was pink, even the walls were decorated with huge pastel flowers and ballerina artwork, it had the all the grisliest toys they could find in Toys’R’us and a closet full of dresses. Vanya loved it, it was perfect.</p><p>“You like it, honey?” Reginald asked looking proudly around the room, they worked on it for an entire month.</p><p>No words were needed to get Vanya’s response, she ran to ger huge Barbie dollhouse in half a second and analyzed it with the biggest smile. Ellie was trying her best not to cry “I think she does”</p><p> </p><p> </p><p>
  <strong> July 28th, 1997 </strong>
</p><p>Summer 97 was a very interesting one. Reginald of course had to keep working particularly long hours at the hospital, so Ellie stayed with their five children enjoying a clam vacation at home. The kids were growing up fast and started shaping their own unique personalities.</p><p>Luther was more often than not locked in the only quiet place, the basement, assembling Lego Star Wars ships, drawing aliens, or reading about space. The others soon got sick of hearing him talk about it but his parents did the effort to buy him anything astronomy related to keep his instructive passion going.</p><p>Klaus had found a new thing for art, but most of them saw that one coming. He asked about was art supplies whenever they sat a foot in the grocery store, he would use all kinds of material and proudly watch as Ellie put it on the fridge or Reginald took it to his office. All his masterpieces would be put up around the kitchen, his parents' bedrooms, or Reginald's office.</p><p>Ben, being only four years old, didn’t really have anything particularly showstopper. He spent all of his mornings in the backyard running after bugs, then he spent his afternoons watching cartoons and eating fruitloops, and all his free time in between was spent following his brother’s around or trying to communicate with the Ukraine girl in the next room. He would often rant to her while she didn’t understand “Vanya is quiet and kind, most girls are mean and annoying”</p><p>Last but not least, Fieve would… actually, nobody knew what Fieve was doing. He would spend half of his time locked in his bedroom and he would hide his secretive craft under his desk whenever his mother checked upon him. The other half of his time was spent tormenting his brothers, which is why they preferred for him to stay locked up.</p><p>The only little girl, Vanya, only truly would spend her entire days glued to Ellie, following her without ever saying a word. Her adoptive mother tried her best t teach Vanya some English, she saw it as her duty as a former elementary school teacher to prepare her daughter for kindergarten. Vanya was making some progress in understanding but she still never talked, so most days Ellie and Vanya would just play dollhouse, prepare tea parties, do each other nails, or dress-up. </p><p>Today, for example, Vanya and her mom were baking simple chocolate cookies, they were having the fun of their lives. Their baking was interrupted by Five, who appeared before them with a promising look. </p><p>“Hello mom, hello Vanya” Fieve greeted when he entered the kitchen holding a suspicious pack of sheets.</p><p>Vanya waved with her fingertips full of butter and Ellie smiled at her son’s comical politeness “Hi kiddo, what are you up too?”</p><p>“I have to talk to you about two things,” Fieve said sounding like an old businessman, he sat down n the opposite side of the counter to look at the girls and continued. “First of all, I have something for Vanya”</p><p>At the sound of her name, the little girl looked up at her adoptive brother. He opened the pack of sheets on the counter and peacefully turned the pages, it was a cute handmade book filled with huge messy words written in English and translated in Vanya’s language with notes about the pronunciation. “Fieve, what is this?”</p><p>“This is a dictionary, it’ll help us understand Vanya and maybe she can learn faster with this,” The kid said with a cocky smile and his chin up, obviously proud of himself and hoping for it to work perfectly.</p><p>“Woah” Ellie’s jaw was on the floor, a seven years old kid wrote a whole dictionary for his baby sister. She cleaned off the flour from ton her hands to look at her son’s work, the translations weren’t written in the right alphabet but in the one that they could understand for the pronunciation. It was only the words a four years old kid could need, cute little things like colors, numbers, fruits, and animals. “Fieve… kiddo this is amazing”</p><p>Vanya wasn’t sure of what was going on, but she understood when Fieve confidently said “Ya lyublyu pechyvo”</p><p>The little girl giggled, it must be weird to finally understand someone after weeks of not talking to anyone “ya tokozh”</p><p>They all knew Fieve was smart, but this was another level “Sweetie how did you do this?”</p><p>“A magician never reveals” he answered with his finger on his lips.</p><p>A couple of minutes passed where both Ellie and Fieve tried to read words to communicate with Vanya, excited about finally hearing her talk. Vanya laughed harder after every word, mocking them for their horrible pronunciation but happy to finally understand them.</p><p>“Mom, there’s still another thing needed to talk to you about,” Fieve said going back to his serious tone.</p><p>“Yes, kiddo?”</p><p>“Why did you call me ‘Fieve’?” He said making a funny grimace, looking almost disgusted.</p><p>Ellie sighed, thinking she knew where this was going “Oh, I didn’t choose that name sweetie, it was your birth mom, Leah.”</p><p>“Ah” Fieve and Luther knew Leah pretty well. Of course, it was thought for them to know everything about their adoption but the parents figured there was no point in laying to them if they were gonna grow up with a bunch of adoptive siblings anyways. As planned, the still twins spent a weekend per month with their birth mom and she always came around with gifts for birthdays and holidays. She wasn’t the best influence but she was trying her best to get her life together after finishing college. “Well, I hate it, I want to change it.”</p><p>Ellie resisted the urge of chuckling, she internally agreed but she couldn’t disrespect their birth mother’s only decision.</p><p>When his mother didn’t answer, he continued “It’s ridiculous, literally worst name I’ve ever heard”</p><p>“Okay but why the sudden concern, honey” she was honestly confused, the kid never seemed to have a problem with his name before “Did something happened?</p><p>Fieve shrugged and debated on keeping quiet or not, he might be prideful but he was also strategic and knew his mother will only listen if he was honest “Yesterday, I was at the park with Klaus and a couple of middle schoolers said that my name sounded like a girl’s name. They all laughed at me, it was embarrassing.”</p><p>Ellie was in a loss of words, she felt bad she honestly thought the name was hideous. She still put a warm expression on her face and tried her best to cheer help him “Oh honey… Fieve, I’m sorry to hear that. You know you shouldn’t listen to what others think of you, just ignore them and remember you’re perfect as you are.”</p><p>“Okay mommy,” he said uncertainly and took a few seconds to mutter “but can we still change it?”</p><p>“Kiddo, I don’t think that’s a good idea. Leah chose that name just for you, you wouldn’t want to hurt her feelings right?” Ellie always talked highly of Leah to the twins, after seven years of having her around she grew to respect her and see her as a sort of younger friend who looked up to her. Plus, changing the kid’s name was an expensive and long process “but maybe we can get you a nickname you like? You know, something you can go by with friends and family as long as you want, a lot of people do that”</p><p>“Really? How?”</p><p>“It’s easy” Ellie gave a simple gesture and checked up on Vanya who was distracting herself with the cream “first we have to choose a name close enough to your real one that everyone can remember and that you feel more comfortable with.”</p><p>“Alright, seems fair, and what could be my nickname?” Fieve was already looking up and frowning, thinking hard about it.</p><p>“Whatever you want kiddo” yeah she shouldn’t have said that the browned haired boy was way too creative for his own good.</p><p>“Five!” the kid yelled in excitement</p><p>“Euh, Five?”</p><p>“Yes, Five! It’s close to my real name, just one less letter, and it’s so easy to remember!”</p><p>Ellie tried to shut it down but the kid was also too smart for his own good “Honey, I don’t think a number for a name is settled for a nickname, how about something more common?”</p><p>“I don’t want it to be common, a number is way more original. I love numbers, math is my favorite subject!” he boosted up the nickname with a growing smile.</p><p>“Alright honey, if it’s really what you want then it’s settled.” Ellie laughed gently and let it go, expecting the nickname to not last long.</p><p>She was wrong, oh so wrong. “Five, I like it.”</p><p> </p><p> </p><p><br/>
<strong>November 16th, 1997 </strong>
</p><p>Ellie and Vanya were on their way to pick up the boys at the sports center.</p><p>Reginald and Ellie enrolled the boys in afternoon activities to keep them entertain and drown all their energy to hopefully keep them serene at home. It was also an opportunity for them to make new friends and get some time away from each other which is why they were doing different activities: Klaus in swimming class, Luther in athletics, Ben in soccer, and Five in martial arts.</p><p>Vaya hadn't been inscribed in any because she was already spending her afternoons studying with her adoptive mother, trying to learn English better. Since she had made considerable progress in the last few months, it was time for Ellie to ask “Vanya, would you like to try one of them out?” </p><p>Vanya didn't answer right away, instead, she processed the question in her head and bought her lip. "Really?"

</p><p>"Of course, I think it might be good for you. You'll make new friends, get less bored and you can practice your English even more! hat do you say?"  

</p><p>Vanya just nodded with a smile, quiet as always, thinking about what activity she would like to join. </p><p>They got to the parking and four kids rushed into the back of the new mini-van “Hey little ones, how were your classes today?”</p><p>Ben seemed sorrow “Horrible, coach made me stay on the bench because I have no aim”</p><p>“Well he’s right, you hit a kid on the eye, he could be blind if you were stronger!” Klaus mocked loudly, not taking it seriously at all and making his brother feel worst.</p><p>Ben outraged “I hope you drown in the baby’s section of the pool, Klaus!”</p><p>Klaus ignored it and laughed harder, his purple towel was wrapped in a towel and he reeked chlorine. His eyes were red from opening underwater and he was exhausted “Not gonna happen, I’m the best swimmer in the bunch”</p><p>Ben rolled his eyes and muttered “That because your arms and legs are way too long, you look like you’re made of playdough”</p><p>“Ben, that’s no way to talk to your brother” their mother chanted the famous phrase she repeated every single day. “Klaus, I’m very happy to see you’re enjoying your swimming classes. Ben, you’ll get a better baby, I promise and we’ll help you practice this weekend ok?”</p><p>Luther went next to talk, he looked up with an arrogant smile and bragged “My class was awesome, the coach said that if I keep making such fast progress I could be a World Champion one day”</p><p>“That’s amazing honey” Ellie smiled keeping her eyes on the busy road “Five, how about you kiddo?”</p><p>Five tilted his head and batted his eyelashes before using his most sarcastic and annoying voice to mimic Luther “Awesome, my coach said that if I keep hitting the other kids with my katana he would kick me out”</p><p>The joke did not land well. His mother eyed him through the rearview mirror with obvious rage. “You and I are going to talk after dinner, mister.”</p><p>Vanya was the only one left in front of the two parents “Five, why are you always hurting people?”</p><p>Five frowned hard, he wasn't expecting that from his shiest sibling "I- I don't know" 

</p><p>The other boys chuckle and Ellie thought about her son's reaction, he seemed way more concerned by Vanya's question than by any punishment from his parents, coach, or teachers. Wow, her daughter had some magic powers  over her problematic son.</p><p>That night, after dinner, Vanya sat between her parents at the sofa with a cute pink children's book  that Reginald had bought her "What's up honey?" 

"Can I do ballet?" she asked as she pointed at the picture of a cute ballerina mouse in her picturebook 

Ellie and Reginald both smile and chuckled, her mother answered "Of course you can, I'm sure they have that option in the 'dance' section." 

Her dad kissed her forehead and stated "You're going to be the most beautiful ballerina ever" 

The parents proceed to cuddle and tickle their new daughter until she fell asleep between them. 

Vanya got signed up after Christmas, and she ended up adoring the class. She was practically a natural, every Tuesday and Thursday she was excited about going back to dance, she refused to miss even one class. Ellie bought her the most beautiful pink tutu she could find and Vanya put it on at any given opportunity, she loved ballet.</p><p>Vanya felt like a princess. She was their beautiful little princess.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p><br/>
<strong>June 20th, 1998 </strong>
</p><p>“Boys hurry up” Reginald screamed annoyed from the front door. He could hear the twins throwing each other insults in their room, as well as Klaus and Ben bickering in theirs. “We’re gonna be late!”</p><p>Luther was the first downstairs, he put his shoes on and ran to the car to join his mom and little sister. Always the obedient, well-behaved golden boy.</p><p>The next one was Ben, he complained once more “Why do we have to go?”</p><p>His dad didn’t look pleased with the question “Your sister has attended each of your soccer matches, couldn’t you do one nice thing for her?” they were going to Vanya’s final recital of the year, they knew it would be very long and boring. Vanya would only dance for about two minutes, but still, the Hargreeves wouldn’t miss the recital for the world.</p><p>Ben rolled his eyes “Okay”</p><p>Klaus was third, he was dressed in the worst combination with a flash green button-up shirt, some purple shorts and a fedora “I’m ready!” he walked right past his dad.</p><p>It took a while but Reginald noticed Klaus wasn’t wearing shoes “Son, where are your shoes?” he asked in a monotone voice and Klaus shamefully came back and grabbed his sandals.</p><p>The last one to get out of the house was Five, usually, nobody was slower than Klaus but this time “Sorry, I was looking for this” Five apologized and showed his dad a rose he had drawn.</p><p>While closing the door behind them, Reginald complimented “Wow, it looks nice, what is this exactly?”</p><p>“I made it for Vanya” he looked down at his toes “She was crying yesterday; she was stressed about messing the dance up. I was hoping this will cheer her up”</p><p>Reggie looked at the card, under the rose it said ‘You’re going to be great, be brave, love Five’ written in boxy handwriting with Crayola. At that moment Reginald thought about how proud he was, Five wasn’t the best-behaved kid in fact he was pretty mean to any other child, but never to his family. Five would protect his brothers no matter what, he loved his parents to death, and if any of them needed him he would always be there with an open heart and his caring acts.</p><p>Vanya’s arrival only magnified Five’s loving side, Reginald hadn’t noticed it was related until now but it was obvious: Five had become more kind headed, more delicate in his words, and certainly more attentive. Vanya softens Five, she was an amazing influence.</p><p>With a grip on Five’s shoulder, Reginald smiled proudly “That’s very nice of you Five, she’s gonna love it” and the family got in the car and left for Vanya’s recital.</p><p>They ended up loving every second of the recital, Vanya didn’t do much but she tried her best and she looked gorgeous. At the end of the show, her family gave her a flower bouquet and praised her all the way to where they were going to eat ice cream to celebrate.</p><p>Being the center of attention wasn’t something Vanya was used top but she was certainly enjoying it.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p>
  <strong>August 4th, 1998</strong>

</p><p>Vanya, Ben, and Klaus were the only children in the Hargreeves household this weekend. Reginald and Ellie were doing their best to keep them occupied but the kids seemed to be missing their brothers.

</p><p>For the first time in their lives,  Five and Luther were going on a trip without their siblings and parents. They were going to a lake house for the entire week with their birth mother, Leah. Leaving their adaptive parents heartbroken and thinking of them all week. 

</p><p>To keep their minds out of it, the two parents decided to get in the car and take the kids to a mini road trip. They were only going to a circus, a place their youngest kids and Klaus would enjoy way more than the twins anyway. It was two hours away which meant they had to prepare coupe snacks: some fruits, cucumber sandwiches (Klaus' favorite), golden fishes (Ben's favorite), and chocolate croissants (Vanya's favorite).  </p><p>Throught out the two hours, the five of them had a blast in the car: singing, dancing, and playing simple games with laughter. Ellie even had a cute little notebook full of puns and riddles. After ninety minutes of playing hangman, tic tac toe, twenty questions, and 'I spy with my little eye', Ellie turned on the radio and let the party start. </p><p>Ben''s eyes shined when he hard his favorite song, 'Everybody by Backstreet boy'. He screamed from the top of his lungs with a huge smile "♫BACKSTREET'S BACK, ALRIGHT! ♫"</p><p>"♫OH MY GOD WE'RE BACK AGAIN♫" his oldest brother and little sister joined "♫BROTHERS, SISTERS EVERYBODY SING♫" </p><p>With a gigantic grin, Reginald joined "♫Gonna bring the flavor, show you how!♫"</p><p>And last but not least, the proud other joined "♫Gotta question for you, better answer now, yeah♫" </p><p> By the time they hit the chorus, they were all happily shouting the lyrics "♫EVERYBODY, YEAH, ROCK YOUR BODY!♫" </p><p>They had a blast with their karaoke, bringing up songs like 'Wannabe' from 'Spice Girls',  'I Want You Back' by 'N Sync',  'I Believe I Can Fly' by 'R. Kelly', and the classic 'I think we're alone now' by Tifnny.  The entire ride was joyful, and the kids adored every moment of the circus. The way back was very easy, all three of them were asleep after twenty minutes, and the two parents were left with a comfortable silence. They loved their lives, their children, nothing could bring them down. </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>
  <strong>March 4th, 2000</strong>
</p><p>Today was a very busy day: Ben had a soccer game, Vanya was invited to a birthday party, Luther had a private lesson with a math tutor, Klaus had a doctor appointment and Five was going to watch a movie with Leah.  Reginald and Ellie were tired to drive the kids around but once everyone left the house, they had about an hour to be alone.</p><p>They chose to stop at a Harvey's to have lunch while waiting for the time to pick up each kid, they ate and talked peacefully, enjoying a meal with no disasters or petty fights. It was still interrupted by a ring on Ellie's phone "Hello?" </p><p>"Hi Eleanor, it's Shanon speaking" The voice was calm but still heavy as if it was carrying a worrying weight. "I need to talk to you" </p><p>"Good afternoon Shannon, how are you?"  Ellie knew this was serious when she remembered who Shanon was: the social worker who got them in touch with their three sons. As much as she was thankful for that woman, she knew how serious this must be. "How can I help you?"</p><p>"Ellie, I'll go straight to the point, I need you to take a kid in." </p><p> "I'm sorry, what?" Ellie's eyes grew bigger than the moon, she practically followed her tongue. She took a second to breathe and put the call in speakerphone for her husband to hear it too.

"He's a sweet, polite boy with a complicated past. He's detained right now, and his present foster family does not want him anymore, I know that sounds bad but he's actually a tender, caring teenager who deserves a chance. I need a big favor from you and your husband, can you foster Diego Olivares?"</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>*DISCLAIMER* Everything I know about the foster system and adoption comes from movies, series, youtube storytimes, and quick research. So I'm sorry if it isn't 100% accurate.</p></blockquote></div></div>
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